Valour Guardians 5: Rise of Maleficent
by typhoonboom08
Summary: Peace is once again torn apart as Maleficent arrives, bringing her allies and countless Heartless with her in search for the ultimate power. With five Guardians captured and the rest fighting with allies, this may very well be more than they can handle.
1. Arrival of Pure Darkness

**AN:** And here's the sixth addition to my series. From here on out, it'll be a little different, if my writing turns out right. Before, they were mostly getting to know each other and helping out here and there. now they're becoming a real team and family while their hidden powers will start developing. well, enjoy

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><p><strong>Arrival Of Pure Darkness<strong>

**Roxas:** _Darkness is a powerful thing, destructive, chaotic and an immovable part of mankind, only kept in check by the light that coexists within their hearts. Sometimes, it becomes too strong and overwhelms the light, but even in the darkest of times, never give up hope. For sometimes, even the smallest of lights can dispel the greatest of darkness._

For the first time in a while, the majority of the Earth was calm and content. Those bathed in the light of day worked and played with smiles on their faces while those residing in the darkness of the night sleep soundly in their beds, waiting patiently for the start of a new day. Even the average crime and bad weather had decreased. And with no super powered beings in sight, whether hero or villain, the Earth finally seemed to be gaining the peace and harmony that it had been deprived of for so long.

Most were taking full advantage of the happy days, doing things they'd normally refrain from while others decided kicking back and relaxing was the way to go. Then there were the rest. Those who knew only too well that the peace would not last and used it to prepare for what was to come. Though some on the planet might say that they're just asking for trouble, sceptical or glory hounds, the warriors gathered on Valour's Light took all the down time they had been given to prepare for the inevitable.

"Ok boys, are you ready to try this again?" Max Tennyson called through a microphone, his voice broadcasting into the room on the other side of the glass as he stared down at Roxas and Gohan.

"Yeah, we're set." Gohan shouted, powering up as Roxas summoned his Keyblades.

"Ok, I'm activating the training bots now." Max stated, pressing a big button. At that moment four large doors opened in the next room, revealing a total of twenty robots, all of them designed like Jack Spicer's basic Jackbots, fifteen bearing lasers and the others bearing drills. "Remember guys, taking them out isn't the true goal for this session. It's the teamwork you distribute."

"Then let's show them what we got." Gohan grinned, dashing off as fast as he could, leaving Roxas in the dust.

"And off you go again." Roxas shook his head as he raised Oathkeeper. Needless to say it had happened more than once before. "Slow!" His spell in place, Roxas rushed after Gohan, using his light magic to propel him forward so he could catch up.

Grinning as Roxas appeared not five centimetres behind him on his left, Gohan dived into a power slide, leaning back to avoid laser fire before throwing out his open palms. Leaping over a drill slowly moving in to behead him, Roxas landed right on Gohan's hands and was sprung high into the air by the Saiyan, right into a gathering of six laser shooting robots.

"Faith!" Roxas cried, bringing forth what looked like a ribbon of light swirling around his body, protecting him from the laser blasts before bursting from him like a circular wave, destroying every robot in his range.

Meanwhile, Gohan was effortlessly evading every laser shot and drill coming his way, jumping into a split kick when two drill robots came in from either side, his feet smashing their heads right off while his hand blew up three more before him. Not waiting for Roxas to land, Gohan fly up and grabbed him by the waist before tossing him towards a group of four robots , his ears barely registering that Roxas was talking as he did.

"Gohan, we should- WHOA!" Roxas cried, caught off guard by the toss. If it wasn't for the fact that everything in the room was moving in slow motion, he wouldn't have gotten his blades brought up in time to deflect the oncoming blasts he was thrown into before pulling himself into a high speed aerial roll, cutting through two robots with ease. Landing a foot on the ground, he spun around, his blades pointing out at either side of him and slashed through the remaining two robots before back flipping towards Gohan as a drill appeared right before him, aiming for his heart.

"Gohan's doing it again." Ben face palmed with a sigh as he and the other Guardians stood on either side of Max watching Gohan and Roxas' forms dashing around almost too fast for the eye to see, only able to tell exactly what's going on by the multiple screens around them player parts in slow motion. "Roxas is slowing down time so he can keep up with Gohan, and Gohan is mostly just using the guy as a high speed weapon."

"And Roxas can't tell him to stop or that he's not ready for flying lesson because anything he says will come out too fast for any of us to understand the words." Rai shook his head.

"That won't be a problem anymore." Kim said as she pointed to Roxas. The blond in question caught a drill between his crossed Keyblades before it could hit Gohan's back, appearing as nothing more than a white and black blur before slowing right down to his normal speed as he threw his blades out to his sides, cutting straight through the robot. "His spell wore off."

Groaning at the sudden increase in everyone else's movements, Roxas swung Oblivion at a laser blast aimed for his head as he turned to Gohan just in time to watch him blast two robots into dust.

"Gohan, would you actually try working WITH me here?" Roxas cried exasperatedly, blasting a drill robot with a beam of light. "Other than that spring step, you've fighting completely as a lone soldier."

"Huh, what do you mean?" Gohan cried confusedly, grabbing Roxas and taking to the air as three lasers came their way. "I've mixed more moves with you than that."

"Oh please, the only other thing you've done for me was potentially throw me to my doom like I was a car or boulder." Roxas snapped, swinging his arm and throwing Oblivion. The spinning Keyblade cut right through two more robots before returning to Roxas' hand as he and Gohan landed.

"I Wouldn't have done it if I didn't know you could handle it." Gohan said defensively, creating an energy shield around them so they could talk freely.

"Against these guys that's true, but we're training to be better prepared for fighting people like Xemnas." Roxas retorted. "If you did that against him, without me being fully prepared, I'd be dead. Besides, teamwork isn't just you throwing me here or there. It also includes things like protecting my back and lining the enemy up for my attack. For example, this shield is protecting us, but normally you can't get an attack out either. However, LIGHT!" Raising Oathkeeper and Oblivion, Roxas manipulated his magic into creating thirteen pillars of light outside Gohan's energy and sent them charging right at the robots, destroying every single one remaining.

"My power doesn't always have to start right from my skin." Roxas finished as Gohan dropped the shield. "You shielded us from an incoming attack and which left us safe while I took out the source. That's what teamwork's really all about."

"Nicely said Roxas." Max called as he entered the room, the Guardians right behind him. "You did ok kid. Your time spell removed your issue with keeping up so your speed difference wasn't a hindrance to your teamwork. A good idea for experienced partners, but doing so removes your ability to talk to one another, so as you noticed, that causes a new problem for new partner like yourselves. You responded well to Gohan's moves. Using Gohan's strength as a springboard to reach the higher enemies was a good idea and you were in perfect synch. And you quickly responded to him tossing you before moving to cover his back. You did good for your level of experience with Gohan."

"Thanks Max." Roxas muttered, appreciating the compliments, but not satisfied with the test himself.

"But Gohan, Roxas is right." Max stated, turning to Gohan. "You left him vulnerable to attack multiple times and at one point you used him like a weapon, not a partner. It's good that you have enough faith in Roxas' abilities to turn such a move into an advantage, but in his unprepared state, you still put him in real danger."

"I'm sorry Max, Roxas." Gohan mumbled, lowering head shamefully. "I didn't mean to put in harm's way. I just...I thought..."

"That he was like a Z Fighter." Gwen stated, no questioning about it. "You acted like he had a Z Fighter's strength, invulnerability and fighting style. The problem is that Roxas fights completely differently, relying on different strengths."

"Though, his actions were as close to teamwork as Z Fighters usually get." Rai added, feeling the need to defend Gohan a little. "I heard Bulma talking about them and from what she said, at the best of times, the Z Fighters fight beside each other, not with each other like a team. That's why Gohan's having so much more trouble than us. He's never fought like a real teammate with anyone before us."

"Then maybe someone else should be his partner for now." Roxas suggested, placing a comforting arm around the Saiyan's shoulders. "Having spent the bulk of my life as a member of Organisation 13, I'm not much better off. Axel was the only one to do anything like real teamwork with me."

"True, but your skills and powers are the most compatible with Gohan's." Max responded, shaking his head. "If he's going to figure this out with anyone in the near future, it'll be with you."

"And I'm still failing." Gohan snapped, angry at himself as he pulled away from the group. "I watch Roxas train singularly, I memorise his style and most frequent moves and I still can't figure out how to work with him right! What does it matter who my partner is if I can't figure out the meaning of something as small as basic teamwork?"

"Hey, it's ok." Roxas cried, moving back to Gohan's side and placing a hand on his shoulder. "That was only our third try. We'll get the hang of it."

"Weren't you mad at me a few minutes ago?" Gohan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I'm not getting shot at right now, am I." Roxas responded with a grin, trying to lighten the mood. "Come on, we'll watch the others and see how they do it and maybe alter our training a little. You know, like more mixing moves, less destruction."

"Alright." Gohan nodded, sighing deeply. He had to get this. Next time, he'd do everything in his power to protect Roxas, hopefully without getting in the blonde's way.

"Ok, Kim, Namine, you're up next." Max called, getting nods from the girls as everyone else headed back into the other room. Getting back to his seat, Max activated the controls again and brought in ten robots for the girls to battle. It was only a third of what the last pair had battled, but that was taking Namine's much lower level of experience and their much lower levels of strength and speed into account. "All set?"

"Yep, let 'em rip." Kim smirked, pulling out her hairdryer. Praying that Gohan's gung ho attitude would be the only resemblance to the last round, Max set the robots to attack.

Not wasting any time, Kim fired her grappling hook, shooting right for a robot as it brought out its laser and hooking it right in the barrel before with a mighty pull on the rope, she brought it right towards them. Namine whipped out her daggers from her wrist holsters and leapt at it as it approached, slashing its head right off, causing sparks to fly and burn through the rest of the robot's body and leaving it as a smoking mess clunking away behind them.

"Nice move." Danny smiled before the girls ran in at a drillbot, Kim aerial roll over it and kicking it in the back on the way down, sending it off balance and completely defenceless cross slashed its chest with, leaving a sparking, cross shaped mess on its torso before it blew up. Seeing a laser robot aiming for Kim's exposed back, Namine brought her daggers together and fired a magical ball at it before ducking as Kim flew her way with a flying kick, kicking a drillbot aiming for Namine's shoulder and redirecting the drill into its brethren behind it. "They're protecting each other's backs and each movement they make lines one of them up or clears the other's path. I guess that's what happens when one partner's a telepath."

"Actually, the only magic Namine's used was that ball. And that." Gwen added as Kim sprung Namine into the air with her hands, the blonde smashing right through a laser robot's chest with a light palm. "Namine told me that she wasn't going to use any telepathy in the pair up training sessions as it defied the purpose of doing it at all. This way, she can learn more, including how to deal with situations that may make her telepathy useless or dangerous to us."

"Smart girl." Max said proudly as Kim whipped out what looked like lipstick and firing a red laser at a robot aiming for Namine on her way back down and blowing it up before flipping and twisting her body away from the last two standing robots as they tried to drill her through. Landing on the balls of her feet, Namine spun around gracefully and threw her daggers at the robots, one piercing a robot just below its arm drill and busting it while the other hit the other's spinning drill and was deflected.

"Namine, head in." Kim cried, jumping and catching the stray dagger before it could hit the ground. Doing as Kim said, Namine dashed right at the last robot, watching both the machine and Kim as the red head tossed her dagger. Leaping off a piece of debris, Namine spun her body sideways over the robot's head and caught her dagger along the way before bring it straight down and through the drillbot's back. With a small explosion, the metallic opponent fell to the ground, ending the test.

"And that's all she wrote." Kim cheered, running up and hugging the puffing blond. "Girl you were amazing."

"Thanks." Namine puffed, grinning happily as she returned the hug. "Looks like we make a good team."

"A great team's more like it." Jake shouted, running up and launching himself into the hug, causing the girls to gasp and all three to laugh as they lost their balance and fell to the ground. "Sorry girls. But you guys were amazing! And Namine, Ben mentioned that you had gotten ok at fighting, but it is downright amazing how much you've improved in just around three months. When we first met, you only were capable of jabbing without telepathy or Roxas."

"Well, Roxas is an amazing teacher." Namine replied, blushing at the praise. "He helped me develop my skills and knowledge while letting me develops my strength and tolerance levels at my own pace. He always seemed to know when to push me and when to stop, even if I didn't. I'm still nowhere near as good you guys, but..."

"You'll be there in no time." Ben stated with a wink.

"She really is amazing." Gohan said softly, a little away from the others. "She developed so fast! Not only in fighting skills, but even to the point where team work comes naturally even without reading her partner's mind. Yet with all of my experience in battle, I still have so much trouble with it."

"That's because I've been training alongside her. She learned to mix with others from the beginning." Roxas said reassuringly. "You're too used to fighting on your own, so your experience is actually the problem. But don't worry, we'll get it. Just keep watching how the others do it and we'll go from there."

"Alright." Gohan nodded, turning his sad but appreciating eyes to Roxas. "And thanks."

"Alright, who's next?" Max asked, gathering everyone's attention. "Ben and Danny or Gwen, Rai and Jake?"

...

Down on the planet, hidden in the mountains bordering Rio De Janeiro, a cold, creepy and a very dark feeling suddenly filled the air, causing the foraging animals to tense and freeze. That changed quickly as terrified squeaks and squeals filled the air as they ran as fast as they could, desperate to put as much distance between themselves and that place as what looked like darkness and green fire exploded up from the ground, creating a large, round shaped. It faded and dispersed a moment later revealing two very distinct people. The first was what looked like an overweight, humanoid dog clad in a red shirt with blue pants, gloves, shoulder armour and suspender straps forming an X over his torso, in varying shades. The beastly being looked very imposing, especially with the dark sneer crossing his face.

However, it was the second one that left you shivering in true terror. Though her body was that of an ordinary human, her skin was green. She was clad in black robes with a purple trim and maroon flare edges along with a black, horned headdress. In her hand was a wooden staff topped with a glowing, green orb. She was the perfect picture of a powerful and evil witch, but it was her shining yellow eyes, full of malice and the air of pure darkness that forever surrounded her that made her a being worthy of your darkest nightmares.

"Well, isn't this a pretty little place." The dog man commented, looking around. "Too bad by the end of the day it'll be a dark, dust covered wasteland."

"There's nothing small about this world Pete. And I don't want it completely obliterated." The woman retorted, looking down at the city below. "This is the greatest of all worlds. It was once the centre of all the existed, the heart of all that became all of the many worlds. The one they are all eternally connected to. That's why the Organisation wanted it so bad, though they only thought of it as an easy way to travel to all other worlds."

"The original world. Wow. So why do you want it?" Pete asked, scratching his head. "That is a great reason to want to cease this world, especially if it is a huge world with so many potential allies in it, but it sounds like you have other plans for it."

"You actually picked up my hint. I'm impressed." The woman smirked. "Like you said, this world has many people in it, far more than any other, which will mean from it I can create an army of Heartless big enough to invade and conquer all worlds. However, that is a bonus. What I really want is the heart of this world. For it is from it that the hearts of all other worlds. The ultimate power. the true Kingdom Hearts."

"This world's heart is Kingdom Hearts?" Pete cried, almost falling down at the announcement. "Amazing. But the Organisation's heart moon..."

"Was only a way to tap into a small portion of the real thing's power." The woman interrupted with a wave of her hand. "The hearts of man and beast draw power from Kingdom Hearts too, so a large concentration of them can give you a fraction of its strength, but even that enormous concentration of magic is comparable to the difference between a flea and the world's largest mountain when compared to the true power of Kingdom Hearts. Now enough talk, get to work and create the portals. We will need the Heartless to wipe this place clean of interfering life forms and to scout for Kingdom Hearts."

"Right away Maleficent." The dark witches' dark smile grew and a dark laugh left her dark red lips as a black portal before Pete, taking the moronic servant to another part of the planet. Soon, the ultimate power would be hers and all worlds would fall within days.


	2. Guardians Fall

**Guardians Fall**

"Isn't it a beautiful day?" Gwen asked, grinning as she looked up into the sky, enjoying the sun's warm rays hitting her body as she walked down the street towards Kevin's garage. "No bounty hunters, no psychotics trying to take over the world, no clouds in the sky and a gentle wind just cool enough to make the temperature pleasant. The perfect day to just sit back and enjoy the peace."

"I don't know." Ben sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I think that we should probably still be up on Valour's Light training. I mean Gohan still doesn't have a clue what he's doing on the training front and the rest of us could use a little more practice with our current partners, maybe even mix them up a little-"

"Ben, relax, you're acting like we're going to be invaded tomorrow." Gwen interrupted with a shake of her head. "Besides, Grampa couldn't stick around to help anymore since that call came in from the Plumbers and he has the best ideas on how to cultivate our abilities and pretty much everyone is doing fine. As for Gohan, like they said, this is the opposite of his fighting experiences and considering his father's funeral wasn't even a full two weeks ago, it's amazing that he's functioning as well as he is. Give him a break, you're pushing him and everyone else too hard Ben. You're obsessed with this."

"That's because I almost watched the bulk of our friends die. And you were on that list too." Ben snapped harshly before taking a deep breath and sighing, turning apologetically to his cousin. "Sorry Gwen. I know you're right, but I just can't help feeling that we should be doing everything we can to ensure that neither us or anyone else falls onto the casualty list. Plus, I keep getting this weird vibe, like we're in the calm before the storm."

"You're just being paranoid." Gwen replied, shaking her head. "Now come on, we're going to Kevin's, then we're going to the beach and you are going to forget promises of doom and gloom and have fun."

"Yeah, alright." Ben nodded with a small grin. Maybe she was right. After all, he wasn't psychic and Gwen would pick up something bad happening long before he did. Shaking his head, he let his grin grow into a smile and ran to catch up as Gwen pulled ahead of him.

Neither of them noticed or cared about the round shadows moving around behind them. However, that might have been different had they noticed that there was nothing there to make them. Or that every now and then, they would reveal a pair of cold, soulless yellow eyes.

...

"Interesting." Maleficent muttered, fiddling with her staff. "I sense strong magic coming from the girl and at least a spark from the boy. And from the way they talk, they are definitely some of the goody goodies of this world."

Having moved into a cave hidden in the Amazon Rainforest so as not to be detected by those of this world or those she knew would be following her, she was free to use her magic as she wished, in this case choosing to bring up visions of what her Shadow Heartless were seeing and hearing surrounded by her green and black flames. By now, she had a few Heartless in every town or city that she'd sensed high levels of power coming from, both magical or otherwise. She knew that the entire Organisation 13 was stopped in this world and it was imperative that she found the ones who did it before her plan could continue. After all, Heartless, though having much greater numbers, were considerably weaker than Nobodies, so they posed a great risk to her army. Plus, as much as she hated to admit it, the Organisation members were at least as powerful as her, in Xemnas' case, maybe even more so. She just couldn't leave them to join up with the Keybearers and ruin everything she was working towards.

"I get the feeling that these two are a part of the group, especially if the rumours I've been hearing are correct." She said to herself, rubbing her chin. "Judging from what I've heard, they would most likely be the sorceress Lucky Girl and the shape shifting hero, Ben Ten. Now, what of the others?"

Turning to peer at the other images surrounding the cave walls, she took one look at most before ignoring them and moving on to the next. Though her Heartless were instinctively been drawn to the strongest hearts around, ignoring all others due to the influence of her magic, many were only finding military bases or charity buildings. It was getting tedious. That is until a teenager caught her eye. The Heartless was following him into a bedroom...as his glowing body flew through the window. Sighing tiredly, the boy let his body flop onto the bed as a pair of white rings surrounded him, turning his jumpsuit into a dominantly white shirt and blue jeans while his hair and eyes turned from white and glowing green to black and blue respectively.

"Man, I...I'm wiped." He muttered between yawns, closing his eyes. "I need a nap."

"Strange, this boy gives off the energy of a human and a poltergeist." Maleficent commented, a look of intrigue crossing her face. Deciding that he was another target, she moved on, searching for the famous heroes, these 'Valour Guardians' the world spoke of. It wasn't long before she found two more on a different continent from the other three, one of them a magical being in red and white robes playing a video game and the other a sad looking black haired young man with more power than she'd ever seen in someone so young, and even rarely in adult warriors, taking off his shirt and jumping into a stream, his tail flailing around beside him in the running water. He was definitely one of her targets. To defeat someone as powerful as Xemnas, you need someone with at least this boy's level among your numbers.

However, before she could study the nature of his enormous power, one of the Heartless she was seeing through screeched. Startled and thoroughly perplexed, she whipped her head to where it was coming from, wondering what could have possibly happened. she'd never heard a Heartless do that, except the day at Hollow Bastion when the accursed Keybearer fired a powerful light spell at them. What she found made her jaw drop.

"That light. It's impossible." Maleficent gaped, staring at the wall. The Heartless that she was seeing through was back stepping fearfully away from a boy with a blinding light emanating from his entire being. Hearing the scream over the waterfall he was standing near, the boy whipped around and gasped fearfully at the Shadow before his eyes narrowed with rage. The visual on the wall ended a second later, lasting just long enough for Maleficent to see a black Keyblade appear in the boy's hand and slash towards her, destroying the Heartless.

"That light! That face!" Maleficent muttered, not believing what she'd seen. A male with a heart bearing pure light. His face hadn't changed a bit from the last time she saw over a decade ago. It was impossible, he had disappeared, he should have aged by now. Yet here he was, young, strong, and unbearable to look at.

"The Keybearer of light. Ventus." She muttered, her already pale skin going considerably lighter s the knowledge sunk in. "His power would make him the ultimate enemy of the Heartless. And he knows they're here. I must destroy him now." Discontinuing all the images on the wall not bearing the noteworthy children, she gave them one last glance so as to memorise where they were before disappearing in a flash of black and green flames.

...

Roxas sighed as leaned on a railing, staring out at the rushing water descending the gigantic drop of Niagara Falls. He'd heard from Kim that it was an amazing sight and he agreed wholeheartedly. The sound of the rushing water was soothing and he could just stare at it for hours, entranced by the water flow...that is, if he could ignore the foul looks staring intensely into his back.

_They're still at it. When are they going to realise that I'm just like the other Guardians?_ He thought angrily, turning an irritated look to a couple glaring at him. "If you have a problem with me, go somewhere else." He snapped. The pair sent him dirty looks at that and the man was about to retort, but lost his nerve and dragged his girlfriend hastily away as Roxas twitched his fingers. Humphing as they left, Roxas turned back to the water, trying to calm his temper and get lost in it again.

_All I want is to be able to live a normal life._ He thought moodily, his hands tightening around the railing bar as he felt another pair of intense eyes hit his back. _Do so many people just HAVE to go out of their way to annoy me?_

His thoughts were quickly forgotten a shrill screech struck his ears, making him jump and hold his ears, his face scrunched up in pain. Whipping around, his eyes widened as he saw a shadow rise from the ground. Its form quickly changed from a blob as it rose into a vaguely humanoid form with a round head, two, twisting antennas and clawed hands. It wasn't very tall, but the pure darkness radiating from it and the knowledge of exactly what it was left Roxas shivering.

"A Heartless!" He cried, stepping towards it as it prepared to attack. Summoning Oblivion to his hand as he slashed it at the solid darkness, he cut right through the creature like a hot knife through butter and watched as it disappeared into an explosion of black wisps of darkness. However, he didn't relax as it disappeared. Spinning on the ball of his foot, he lashed out with his Keyblade and struck another three Shadow Heartless behind him.

"Just great, now no one is gonna want me around." Roxas growled as he pulled himself to a stop, looking around to find himself surrounded by Heartless and scowling deeper as he noticed what he recognised as the more powerful Neo Shadows and the hook headed Soldiers joining the ranks. "These things are attracted to the Keyblades and the hearts that wield them. I'm the world's biggest homing beacon to them."

"And I'll have them continue to come until you're destroyed." Roxas froze as he heard the cold voice, his eyes widening at the familiarity to it. However, when turned to face the owner, he was sure that he'd never seen her before. "Remember me Keybearer? It's been a long time. Yet you haven't aged a day."

"What the...argh!" He cried, dropping Oblivion and causing it to disappear in a flash of black as his hands flew to his suddenly aching head, his eyes shut tight as what felt like a memory forced its way to the surface. Flashes of a creepy looking castle from the outside crossed his mind, but they were quickly replaced by another. This was one of him standing in a large, round, stone room with a throne up on higher ground before him. It definitely inside the castle. Beside him was a girl with blue hair and eyes and both of them turned to glare hatefully up at this woman standing before the throne, raising her arms and glowing with dark magic.

"Maleficent." Roxas spat, squinting as the pain receded, very confused, but fully aware that this was a person he despised with a passion. He was beyond confused at the images, having seen himself there, not Sora, in clothes that were similar, but still noticeably different to his usual outfit, next to a girl he felt very fond of despite the fact that he knew that he'd never met her. However, he just pushed that information down to where he'd stored that Terra guy to ponder later, settling with the hatred he felt coming from the memories and raising his hands as the Heartless swarmed him. "Faith!"

Gasping in fear, Maleficent was quick to put up a wall of green fire before her, shielding her as a ribbon of light twirled and exploded from Roxas, obliterating every heartless in the area, their actions drawing the attention of everyone around and sending them all into a panic, screaming as they ran away while more Heartless appeared in swirls of darkness.

"What are you doing here Maleficent? This is far from your home world." Roxas growled, slashing through another three Heartless with his resummoned Keyblade as he stared her down.

"Like I told you and Aqua, I intend to rule all worlds." Maleficent smirked, watching curiously as confusion passed through the boy's eyes again at the mention of their previous encounter. She took particular interest in how it increased at the name of the Keyblade Master she knew was like a big sister to him. "Here in this world is the power I need to do just that. And I refuse to let you get in my way, Keybearer of pure light."

"The name's Key of Destiny." Roxas snapped, throwing his left arm out at an approaching Heartless as if he was going to punch it only for Oathkeeper to appear in his hand in a flash of light just in time to skewer the Neo Shadow. "And I assure you, your plans won't succeed."

"What's this? Two Keyblades?" Maleficent cried, completely losing her smug tone at the sight of the first dual Keybearer ever to exist. "How is this possible? The heart is only capable of bearing and maintaining one Keyblade."

"Don't know and don't CARE!" Roxas shouted, his Keyblades glowing with light magic as he slashed through a pair of Soldiers and jumped right towards Maleficent. However, she only smirked and waved her hand in response. It became clear why less than a second later as dark energy burst up before her. By the time Roxas' blades came down, it was to find their path blocked by an huge, blue shield with an equally large, snaring dog's head in the middle.

"Oh crap, a Defender!" Roxas exclaimed, jumping back as the bulky humanoid's shield tried to make a meal out of him. "This'll take a little bit of time to get around."

"Time you don't have!" Maleficent jeered, raising her glowing staff and releasing a powerful blast of dark magic. Gasping, Roxas focused his light magic into his Keyblades, only to gasp painfully and drop them as a Shadow slashed him from behind. He screamed as the blast struck home, knocking him cleanly off his feet, his communicator falling out of his pocket and clattering on the ground as he was blown over the railing. His body searing with pain, he was unable to stop himself from falling over the railing. He was just able to register Maleficent's victorious laughter before it was consumed by the raging waterfall and his consciousness was consumed by darkness, leaving him helplessly plummeting down one of the world's biggest waterfalls.

"That was easier than I thought." Maleficent laughed, stroking her staff as she stared down at the misty depths. "Now on to the others. The other five legendary fighters will be mine."

...

"Now isn't this nice?" Gwen asked, stretching out on a towel and smiling as the warm glow of the sun touched her skin. "The warm sunlight, the sound of the waves, is there anything more soothing?"

"Well, maybe if the kids were forever screaming and throwing their toys this way." Kevin muttered, grimacing as a Frisbee hit his foot only for a kid with an abnormally high pitched laugh to run by and grab it.

"Yeah Gwen, you were right." Ben nodded, throwing his shirt into his bag before flopping down next to her, his head resting on his arms. "This is really nice. And that little glamour spell you put up is working great too. No one's recognised us yet."

"And they won't. Not unless you use your powers." Gwen responded, looking at him over her shades. "Even my spells couldn't make Goop or Ripjaws blend in."

"Ghost Freak might make everyone run away though." Kevin suggested lightly, grinning as Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, and then I'd be attacked by the national guard or the nearest hero. Whichever gets here first." Ben retorted with a shake of his head before flinching at a muscle spasm. "Ouch! Wow, some relaxation really is in order."

"Glad to see my way of thinking is finally being taken in by someone." Gwen said playfully before giving Kevin a warm look. "Not that I don't like you exactly how you are."

"Great, then you'll be happy to join me in the water." Kevin grinned mischievously, jumping to his feet and grabbing Gwen before she could respond. Struggling, screaming and laughing the whole time, Gwen yelled repeatedly for him to put her down only for his grin to grow and do just that when he was waist deep in the ocean, leaving Ben holding his stomach as he laughed on the shore.

"Kevin! Why you...HA!" Gwen shouted, splashing sea water at his face, causing him to splutter and stumble backwards before retaliating, starting a splash war. Not wanting to be left out, Ben ran right at them and into the water, diving under the waves before the others could see him. Swimming as fast as he could, he jumped up as he reached them, leaving both crying out in surprise as they were dragged under.

"BEN!" They both cried as they stood up, spitting up sea water as they glared at the laughing brunette

"Haha, oh man, that too easy. You should have seen your faces." He laughed, doubling over with mirth, leaving him none the wiser as the two looked at each other, evil smirks growing on their faces. Before he could even calm down enough to catch his breath, they each grabbed one of Ben's shoulders and shoved him underwater. His body tensing as he swallowed water, Ben jumped right back up the moment their hands left his skin, coughing and spluttering as he tried to clear his lungs of water.

"You were right. That was too easy." Kevin laughed.

"Fun too." Gwen grinned, getting a dirty look from Ben.

"Ha...ha. I didn't...leave you...choking." Ben gasped between coughs, finally removing enough liquid to breathe.

"Meh, you'll get over it." Kevin shrugged, though he patted Ben on the back a second later, getting a thankful look from Ben as he finally calmed down.

"Now that we've all gotten good and wet, how about we get something to eat?" Gwen suggested, heading back towards the shore. "I'm getting hungry and there's a hotdog wagon just a little down the beach."

"Kevin's buying!" Ben said cheekily, running back to the shore.

"Hey, who says I'm gonna get you anything?" Kevin shouted after him as the other followed him.

"Your wallet." Ben answered, smirking at Kevin as he pulled it out of the older teen's bag and ran down the shoreline.

"Hey! Get back here Tennyson!" Kevin shouted, chasing after him. Chuckling as she followed them, Gwen couldn't keep the smile off of her face. It had been a good while since she'd seen Ben so carefree and fun loving. None of the Guardians had been acting like the kids they were much these days, if at all. Not since the whole Albedo, Vilgax disaster. Though when they were kids she would have been appalled by the return of this childish nature, she now hoped that it would shine through more often. They all needed to remember to have fun.

"Alright already, I'll pay, just give me back my wallet." Kevin shouted, giving in to the boy he had a great deal of respect and affection for, not that he'd ever admit it. "I have...stuff in there I don't want coming out."

"And just what would that be?" Gwen asked with a raised eyebrow, crossing her arms and trying desperately to hold in her amusement.

"Umm..." Kevin muttered, suddenly very nervous. "Alien currency."

"Huh, isn't alien currency usually crystals or cubes?" Ben snickered, catching on to Gwen's game and playing along, his fingers rubbing the square piece of leather. "All I can feel is round objects."

"Just give it to me." Kevin grunted, his face flushed as he snatched it from the younger boy and headed off to buy the food, keeping his back to the laughing cousins the whole time. Not ready to give up his sudden urge for fun, Ben turned to Gwen, effectively shutting her up with his sly grin.

"So my dear cousin, why would he have what I think he has in there?" He asked, his face swelling with barely restrained laughter as her face went beet red.

"WHAT? Wait a minute, we haven't been sleeping together." Gwen spluttered, waving her hands. "We haven't even planned to. The one time it came up we decided to wait at least until I was eighteen."

"So you've been planning it?" Ben smirked, only making his cousin's blush grow darker. Unable to hold it in anymore, Ben finally let it drop and dropped himself, struggling to breathe as he laughed hard and loud.

"Oh, real funny Ben." Gwen pouted, though she couldn't keep it up long before chuckling a little herself. She had to admit, if it was anyone else, she'd be laughing right alongside Ben. She knew he was only teasing and meant nothing of it, so she was willing to find the humour in it.

It disappeared a second later however, a multiple, piercing screams filled the air. Ben, Gwen and Kevin all immediately stopped what they were doing, frowning as they searched for the trouble. They found it a second later as a large, black creature with red hair, horns protruding from his head and back, and claws that looked like a demon charged right at the cousins, surrounded by multiple small, black, humanoid and very familiar creatures.

"Heartless?" Gwen gasped, eyes wide with disbelief as the telltale blue glow of magic surrounded her hands. "I thought we destroyed all those things."

"Only the ones the Organisation brought into the world." Ben scowled, activating the controls of the Omnitrix and searching for an alien. "Apparently more have found our world. And they're after us."

"Good, bring them on." Kevin exclaimed, touching and absorbing a large boulder beside him, his hands transforming into swords as soon as his body finished turning into stone.

"It's hero time!" Ben cried, consuming himself in green light. "Chromastone!" The purple crystalline alien came into view a second before shooting a beam of rainbow energy from each hand. Kevin's attack was right behind his as the stone warrior ran forward with a battle cry, slashing at the closest shadows. However, unlike Chromastone's attacks, which had a definite affect, knocking every Heartless they touched back, his stone blades were finding a great deal of resistance in the Heartless' clawed hands and bodies, taking at least three hits just to knock them to the ground.

"Kellecki Rock!" Gwen shouted, pointing her hands at the Heartless. Countless rock spikes exploded through the sand, piercing right through many Heartless' heads and chest, destroying them, while others were thrown back. More rock spike burst forth before the bulky, demonic one and though it managed to avoid them all, they still blocked it's path, giving them more time to focus on the smaller ones.

"This is nuts! Why are my attacks doing so little damage?" Kevin growled, slashing at a Heartless he must have already hit ten times, each blow in a place that should caused dismemberment or death only for it to seem fine. "I'm barely doing any more than knocking these things down."

"It's probably because they're not organic or technological." Ben answered, firing a total of five beams from his hands, chest and forehead before slugging a Shadow that jumped at him in the head as hard as he could with a glowing fist, causing it to explode into wisps of darkness. "They're pure darkness from inside someone's heart turned solid. Magic seems to be the only thing that easily destroys them, though various forms of raw energy such as my ultraviolet blasts seem to have a similar affect."

"Just great." Kevin groaned, getting fed up and turning his right stone sword into a mallet before pummelling the Shadow he was fighting into the ground three times as hard as he could, finally destroying it, and swinging it out to catch another attacking Heartless in the head. "I can't use those kinds of powers."

"Then despite your interesting abilities, you are of no threat to me." A dark, disembodied voice stated, sending chills down their spines even as they continued attacking. Throwing disk shaped blasts from her hands at the remaining Shadows and a large blast at the demonic Heartless, Gwen focused on sensing for the being and picked up on powerful, bone chilling dark magic right as Maleficent appeared behind the Heartless in a display of black and green flames.

"Hey, I don't know who you are, but I'm no weakling. I'm a threat to all of you creeps." Kevin yelled furiously, not noticing Gwen's nervous gulp or paling face as he charged right at the dark witch.

"Kevin, NO!" Gwen screamed, leaving Ben to finish of the Shadows she hadn't destroyed with her last wave of attacks as she chased after her reckless boyfriend. However, the demonic Heartless was quick to jump in her way and back handed her.

"ARGH!" Pain exploding from her shoulders and chest, Gwen found herself flying off like a ragdoll, only saved from greater injury by landing on a soft sand dune, though she was still seeing stars.

"Gwen!" Ben cried as the Heartless moved to press his attack, this time leaping into the air and coming down with his claws poised to tear her apart. Jumping in the way, he grabbed the claw in both hands before tossing the Heartless away, sending a large beam right into its chest as it flew and knocking it into the water with a mighty splash.

Not even noticing what's going on, Kevin swung the stone sword at Maleficent only for her to casually block it with her staff. Getting more frustrated, he quickly lashed out with the mallet only for a disk of green magic to appear before her and block it.

"You are strong, no doubt a force to be reckoned with against many opponents." Maleficent commented, smirking the whole time. "However, Heartless have a great tolerance to your kind of abilities and I am far beyond what you could ever handle."

"I'll believe that when I see it." Kevin snarled, continuously slashing and pummelling at all different angles only for her green magic to shield her and disappear every time.

"Very well." She replied softly, a smug smile growing on her face. Waving her staff at him just as he raised his mallet high over his head, she unleashed a vicious green flamethrower point blank into his chest. Screaming, he was thrown back at the speed of a bullet train and crashed hard into the sand, causing a huge amount to fly into the air and block everyone's vision of him. The stone gone from his body, leaving burned skin and ripped swim trunks behind, Kevin let out a few low, pained groans before falling unconscious.

"Kevin!" Gwen groaned, her eyes glowing as she scanned him, desperate to find his life force. Finding that he was still alive and not in immediate mortal danger, she turned fiercely towards a smirking Maleficent, the blue orbs around her hand giving off what looked like blue lightning as she raised her fists.

"Gwen, don't." Ben said desperately as the Heartless bounded back to its feet, coming right at them. "We need to work together if we want...what the? Gwen, where did that thing-argh!" Ben cried, watching in shock as the giant monster disappeared a few seconds before an overly large fist crashed into him, large claws coming back and piercing his shoulder as he flew off his feet and taking a chunk of crystal. Hissing at the pain, he had his body recreate the lost crystal only for a claw to slash off more from his bell before grabbing his leg and tossing him the way it came, crashing into the water.

Gwen hadn't noticed any of it, dashing straight at Maleficent, glaring as the evil witch gave her a dark smirk.

"Let's see how you handle someone of your own kind! Mercuchus Veridaitus!" Bringing her hands together as she yelled, she released an powerful blue beam right at Maleficent's chest. Her smirk growing, Maleficent just pointed her staff at the incoming blast.

"Powers of evil, protect thy master!" She screamed, releasing a powerful green and black beam of her own, neutralising Gwen's as the two opposing powers fell into a stalemate. However, Gwen failed to noticed a bolt of black lightning drop from the sky. That is, until it crashed right into her.

"AR-ARRGGHH!" Screaming and losing all sense of concentration as the electrical assault wracked her body, her beam dissipated and left her helpless as Maleficent's carried on through blasting her into the ground. Moaning lowly, her world turned black.

"Oh no." Ben exclaimed, taking a step towards Gwen, only to be struck again, this time by a pair of invisible horns. "Oof! Damn it, this thing just doesn't stop." He swore, pulling himself back up. Knowing he'd never make it to Gwen with the Heartless running around, he whipped his head back and forth, staring at the ground in an attempt to identify where the creature was. The problem was his movements were quick and erratic. By the time he fired a blast where a pair of footprints occurred, it was already somewhere else, leaving his blasts to fly all over the beach and even blowing up the life guard tower.

"Good thing everyone fled." He muttered before crying out as an invisible horn pierced right through his arm.

"Dark Thorns are one of the strongest and most vicious breeds of what's known as a pureblooded Heartless, only created when a Heartless is formed from an immensely dark heart." Maleficent sneered, walking casually towards the shape shifter. "A very dangerous threat that I doubt you can handle on your own. It's tough even for Keybearers to fight it."

"Don't be so sure of your victory." Ben snapped, reaching for the Omnitrix. "If I can't hit it as I am, I'll just change the circumstances. Big Chill!" Maleficent couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips as the green flash occurred, revealing not the boy, but another unusual form, this one looking similar to a giant blue moth.

_So this one has more than one transformation._ She realised, watching carefully as the new form took into the air, easily avoiding the Dark Thorn's next attack. _And different powers with each one. This boy could prove useful to me._

"How about we try cooling you off?" Ben asked, taking a deep breath and freezing all the sand within a ten meter radius of him. The Dark Thorn, having been leaping at the time, avoided being frozen along with it, however, as it landed it slipped and crashed onto the ice, becoming visible as it slid helplessly across it. Seizing the opportunity, Ben threw his hands down and unleashed a barrage of pointy ice shards, cutting into and through the creature, not stopping until with a mighty scream, it exploded into the darkness from whence it came.

"One d-AARRGGHH!" Ben screamed as bolt of dark lightning struck his back, making his whole body feel like it was on fire as he crashed into the ground. Groaning and twitching, he tried to pull himself back up and face the laughing witch, but before he could even get up onto his hands and knees, he was blasted in the side with a black and green beam. His vision blurring, he groaned weakly as he changed back to normal and watched as Maleficent approached, cackling at his defenseless form. Whimpering as pain wracked his body, particularly his left side where the beam had hit, Ben closed his eyes and fell limp, completely unconscious.

"I must say, I'm impressed with how quickly he destroyed the Dark Thorn." Maleficent muttered, having the Tennyson cousins rise into the air towards her with a wave of her staff. "And unlike the stone boy, I'm confident that I only got a sample of what either of these two can do. It's a pity there isn't much darkness in them, but no matter. That would only create powerful Nobodies anyway. But no matter, I will simply have to find other ways of using their powers for my benefit." Creating a dark portal before her, she waved her staff and sent the teens through before following herself. By the time the portal disappeared, the only hint that they were there was the ice, their bags and a banged up Kevin lying on his back.

...

"Ah, that was a nice nap." Danny yawned, stretching his arms before rubbing his eyes. Feeling fully refreshed, he headed downstairs in search of his family and something to eat, only to find a pair of notes on the fridge. The first one from his parents saying that they went to a ghost hunter's convention and the other was from Jazz, stating that she was going to be at the library until dinner.

"That's typical." Danny said with a shrug before opening the fridge with a grin. "That just means more cake for me." He added with a grin, licking his lips as he pulled out a half eaten cake and cutting himself a large slice.

"Let's see, it's the weekend so no school, I don't have monitoring duty for another three days, so what should I do? Simple solution, call Sam and Tucker and play some video games." He grinned, taking a bite of his cake as he slouched back into the lounge room couch.

Turning on the TV and channel surfing, he never noticed the shadows growing behind him, or the big, bulky form near the basement door. It wasn't until the last of his treat was in his mouth, the boy moaning in pleasure, that his eyes noticed the shadow of a something big lurking behind him. his eyes widening, he dropped his plate and dived into roll just as what looked like a black centaur with yellow eyes and armour thrust his lance through the couch right where his heart had been.

"Hey! You're paying for that!" Danny shouted, glaring at the creature as he transformed. But before he could do anything, the familiar form of the Shadows leapt his way, leaving him shocked and scared as he took to the sky. "Heartless? Not again."

Seeing the centaur coming at him again at unbelievable speed, he flew back and thrust his hand forward, releasing a pale blue beam and freezing it in place. Knowing it wouldn't last long, he shot at the approaching Shadows, smashing his glowing fists into two, kicking another away and firing an ecto blast at the fourth, quickly destroying it. Hearing the ice shatter behind him, He quickly created two clones and sent them after the centaur before throwing an ecto ball at a Neo Shadow.

Banking in opposite directions as the centaur thrust his lance again, the clones zipped behind it and fired dual beams where the humanoid part of the body met the horse part, blowing it forward and stumbling before diving at it, one aiming a punch and the other a kick. However, luck turned against them as it stabilised itself and spun around before they could reach it, spinning its lance at blinding speed and turning both into puffs of green smoke as they hit it.

Growling irritably at the sight, Danny threw another strong beam at a pair of Neo Shadows, flinging them away and destroying one, before turning to the centaur with a deep breath and releasing a ghostly wail.

Furniture and plaster from the walls blew apart and flew to the far wall as the ecto charged soundwaves tore through the place, throwing the centaur off balance and back before slamming it into and through the wall and destroying it, along with the remaining Shadows. Letting it die, he had just enough strength left to throw a green glowing fist into the surviving Neo Shadow's gut and destroy it before hunching over and sucking in large gulps of air, feeling more than a little drained.

"Great. And now I need ANOTHER nap." He gasped, scanning the area for more threats as he tried to calm his breathing, struggling to hold his ghost form.

"Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to nap." Danny's eyes narrowed as a deep voice came from behind him, but before he could even finish turning, he gasped fearfully as a blue, sucking energy beam caught hold of him.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Screaming, he was unable free himself before finding himself trapped in the extremely tight and dark confines of the Fenton Thermos. "Hey! Let me out of here!"

"So that's why Maleficent told me to grab this thing." Pete said amazedly, ignoring Danny's screams and putting the lid on. "I thought she just wanted a good cup of coffee. Oh well, live and learn." Thoroughly pleased with himself, Pete used the magic Maleficent bestowed upon him and created a portal for himself, taking the capture phantom along with him.

...

Staring up as the moon moved out from behind a cloud, Gohan sighed and pulled himself out of the water. No doubt by now his mother was getting worried about him and it would be best not to keep her waiting any longer. Grabbing his shirt, he trudged towards where he could see the smoke from his home's fire place, hoping he would dry off before reaching it.

But before he got any further than ten feet from the water, a flicker of bone chilling darkness crossed his senses. Sucking in a deep breath, he whipped around to face it, only to be struck by a giant, spinning pinwheel made of darkness.

"AUGH!" Grunting, he hit the ground hard, but quickly rolled to his feet in time to see the dark energy disappear into a cackling, black robed witch landing only a few feet away.

"You go by the name Saiyaman right?" She asked, fiddling with her staff as she stared the young Saiyan hybrid up and down. "Hmm, I don't need my gift with magic to tell that you are the kind of warrior to posses great strength. Too bad raw muscle only goes so far when fighting me and my minions."

"Well then, it's a good thing that my abilities don't end with just muscle mass." Gohan snarled, tensing his body as he powered up, his aura bursting to life. But before he could attack, his whole body froze as a force of pure darkness of enormous power crossed his senses. The source was found a second later as an gigantic quadruped creature appeared behind him. as big as the surrounding trees, it's body was dark purple with lighter purple spikes running down its back, head and tail and long, deadly looking purple claws on each paw. Its face was decorated by a blue stripe on either side, crossing around its bright red eyes. To top it off, it had long chains attached to its front legs and what looked like grappling hooks attached to the end. Only seeing one creature even remotely similar to this one before, Gohan shivered and gaped at it as the image of the very first battle he'd stood beside Danny and the Tennysons crossed his mind.

"A Heartless? Oh no, they can't be back." He cried fearfully, preparing himself for the worst. "They rip out people's hearts. They can't stay here." He added, throwing a gold beam at the creature.

However, this one proved to be much tougher than the one Gohan had seen before. The young Saiyan could only gape as it not only leapt out of the way of his attack, but circled the area so fast that even Gohan couldn't keep up. What made him even more worried was that it looked like there were four of them now and due to the high speed of their movements his senses couldn't tell if it had actually multiplied or if it was just the one.

Gasping as three suddenly all turned to him at once, he jumped straight up into the air just as they leapt at him. However, his eyes widened in panic as he realised that all three were merely afterimages. Sensing the overwhelming darkness above him, he screamed as he saw the creature pouncing right on top of him, its giant claws slashing deeply into his arms, shoulders, chest and stomach as it slammed him down to the ground with twice the force even Gohan could dish out.

"AAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Powerful tremors coursed through the ground, forcing Maleficent to levitate herself as they collided with it, the Heartless jumping back ready to strike again a second later. However, seeing Gohan torn up and defenceless, Maleficent created a large portal and sucked the creature through before it ripped out the boy's heart. With that done, she moved towards Gohan, but was shocked still as he groaned, shakily wrapping his arms around his torso as he tried to get up. Not willing to give him a chance to fight or run away, she quickly wave her staff at him and put him to sleep with a flash of black magic.

"Simply amazing. If I hadn't been here to see it, I'd never believe that he'd be able to survive that assault." She muttered to herself, scanning the boy over. Prodding him with her magical senses, she was amazed to find that none of his internal organs had been damaged, the worst of his injuries been a few cracked ribs and damaged muscles. But even so, they'd recover just fine if he was given the time. "I can see why the Organisation fools were defeated here. A powerful sorceress, a boy with multiple transformations, all bearing different abilities, a boy who can create tornados at will, a boy with ghostly powers and now a boy with simply amazing strength with the kind of body that can handle even the most brutal of attacks. Combined them with Ventus and there's no telling what they could do. Still," She added with a dark grin. "Now they and their powers belong to me." Levitating Gohan just as she had with the Tennysons, Maleficent created another portal and walked them through, the dark door disappearing just moments before a panic stricken Chichi and Goten could get to it.


	3. The Invasion Begins

**AN:** Sorry that this chap took so long coming guys and girls. if my beta guy would stop being slow, this could have been out two weeks ago. the next chapter's already done and the fifth should be done today or tomorrow, so hopefully they'll be up soon. Also, I'm starting another story sort of similar to this one if anyone's interested. Avatar, the last airbender, Kim Possible and X men evolution make up the main parts of the crossover. two chapters of it are already done too. but anyway, on with the show...fic...whatever

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><p><strong>The Invasion Begins<strong>

"What do you think of this one?" Namine asked, fingering though a rack and pulling out a purple trimmed, v necked, white sleeveless shirt. Looking up from a pile of blue pants, Kim smiled.

"Wow, that's a nice one. Go try it on." Kim answered, ushering Namine to the changing rooms. Chuckling at her friend's insistence, Namine did as she was told. Suddenly feeling grateful that she'd taken to wearing shorts under her dresses since Roxas started training her, despite no one being able to see her at the moment, she switched her dominant outfit for the shirt and looked in the mirror, smiling at what she saw.

"Well what are you waiting for? Come out and let me see." Kim called excitedly. Lately, she'd gained a lot of affection for the young telepath and found it returned. She had come to considering the blonde girl like a little sister and wanted to do everything she could to have her branch out and develop her confidence. In battle it wasn't much of a problem, but Namine, like Roxas, still had some trouble with the normal life stuff outside her passion for art. She planned this little shopping trip to help Namine see the joys of going to the mall, like most teenagers did and a trip to the Club Banana was a must. She was determined to have Namine find the joys of clothes shopping and above all, get her to wear more than just white sundresses. Seriously, the girl had held on to those things more stubbornly than Roxas had with his combat outfit. _At least his clothes are loose and good for fighting in._ She mused. _Namine is the only person on the planet who feels the need to fight evil in a sundress._

"So, what do you think?" Namine asked shyly as the door opened. Kim couldn't help the squeal that escaped her lips. Though still wearing dominantly white, the purple gave much more life to her appearance. On top of that, the shirt fit perfectly over her form, showing off her figure but still allowing her to retain a sense of modesty. All in all, it looked like it was made for her.

"Wow Namine! You look amazing." Kim gushed, leaving Namine blushing lightly as she inspected her from all around. "How does it feel?"

"Different, but very comfortable." Namine answered softly, fingering one of the fabric over her shoulders. "The fabric over my shoulders is about three times as thick as my dress' straps, but it feels a little lighter and the shirt's definitely more snug, but it's comfortably so."

"It probably seems lighter because there's less fabric to hold up. Plus with more fabric on your shoulders the amount of weight is less concentrated and the shirt's clinging to your form so they have less to deal with again." Kim shrugged. "Now we just have to find you the perfect pair of pants to go with it. Definitely not any whites, blue wouldn't do the purple justice, so I guess we'll just have to try and find some that are dominantly purple. Maybe Monique will have a good idea."

_I never realised that Kim was such a fashion fanatic._ Namine thought amusedly, going back to change. Not that it was the only thing she'd learnt about the non-powered heroine. A few weeks ago, she only really knew about Kim's extremely high levels in gymnastic and martial art skills and her seemingly limitless confidence. Now, in addition to seeing her love for shopping, Namine had found that the girl loved romance movies and novels, was forever irritated, but fond of her twin brothers, had a soft spot the size of Texas for her best friend/boyfriend Ron Stoppable and had an overachievement issues when it came to helping people in all forms, with the inability to say no. She was very different from Roxas, Gwen and Gohan, all of them having much more relaxed or studious natures off the battlefield, but Namine found the 'go, go, go' attitude exhilarating.

"Once she starts something, she never does stop until it's finished, does she?" An amused voice chuckled, startling Namine as she walked out of the change rooms. Whipping around to the place the voice came from, she frowned at the sight of a middle aged man in a lab coat with goggles around his neck standing in the corner.

"Um, who are you?" She asked warily, taking a step from him. she hadn't seen him there a second ago and this was a girl's clothes store. She only became even more worried as she tried to scan the surface of his mind only to find it completely blocked from her.

"Oh, sorry my dear, but you won't be able to read my mind. Being an immortal being, I've had plenty of time to develop my defences." The man said happily, giving her frowning face a chipper grin. "I see we haven't met yet. So sorry, I sometimes forget how far back in time I do or don't meet someone. I am Paradox."

"Paradox?" Namine gasped, letting her body relax as she gaped at the man. "The time traveller that Ben and Gwen sometimes work with?"

"Yes, and the very same man who took Roxas to Galvin Prime for healing and dropped him off near you when he'd healed." Paradox nodded happily.

"Then it's an honour to meet you. Though..." Namine said hesitantly, looking worriedly at the timeless being. "According to Ben and Gwen, you only show up for worse case scenarios."

"And here we are." He nodded, his face turning grave within an instant. "I'm afraid that one of the masters of darkness I warned Ben about before has arrived. If not stopped, she will unleash chaos and destruction like none you have ever seen or could even believe possible. She will decimate every dimension."

"WHAT?" Namine screamed, causing everyone in the store to jump ten feet in the air and whip around to face her, Kim included. "That's not possible! Who could possibly have that much power? The power to destroy all worlds could never be held within one being. It would tear them apart long before they developed that much."

"True, but Maleficent has the power and knowledge to unleash that level of power." Paradox responded, freezing Namine at the mention of the witch's name. "You know of her reputation Namine. She has tracked the power she seeks to this world. If she is not stopped before she does, then there will be a very slim chance of saving even half of existence."

"Then the Valour Guardians will stop it." Kim stated firmly joining the two as everyone else in the store continued to watch on silently, their fear growing quickly. If a Valour Guardian was panicking then they were in huge trouble, despite Kim looking confident as ever.

"I'm afraid the Guardians' collective has been crippled." Paradox stated, causing the girls to gasp, fear finally crossing Kim's face. "Gohan, Ben, Gwen and Danny are the most powerful and unpredictable members of your team and Maleficent has already found and captured them all. On top of that Maleficent blasted Roxas down Niagara Falls and Raimundo will only just get away while the other Xiaolin monks distract the enemy for him to warn you of the invading Heartless."

"Heartless?" Kim cried just as both her and Namine's V coms went off.

"As grim as things seem, do not give up hope." Paradox stated as the girls pulled out their V coms and listened as Rai's panicky voice spoke of a group of bear sized Heartless attacking the temple. "When things seem at their darkest, gather the light of many into one. For when this deed is done, the darkness shall be overcome." With that, he disappeared as quickly as he came.

"Kim, pay for our stuff. I'll get Raimundo and be right back for you." Namine said, her eyes narrowing with anger, forcing the powerful emotion to the surface solely to block out the pain and fear she'd felt at the mention of Gohan, Roxas and the others. She didn't give Kim any time to disagree as she waved her hand and created a light portal, diving through it a second after it opened and before it closed.

"I get the feeling that Maleficent is going to have hell to pay. Even without any other Guardian's involvement." Kim muttered as she stared incredulously where Namine had been only seconds before. Inexperienced or not, Kim knew one thing for sure: she was extremely glad that Namine hadn't directed any rage to her. 'Cause if she did, Kim would probably never walk again.

...

"Wudai Neptune, Water!" Water flooded the area as the bulking, blue defenders charged. Omi's power, enhanced by the elemental Shan Gong Wu on his arm, proved too much for even them to weather through, pushing them back.

"Cat's Eye Draco! Arrow Sparrow!"

"Long Horn Taurus! Big Bang Meteorang!" Kimiko and Clay were quick to join in, both throwing their Wudai Weapons into the air. The flaming birds and the multiplying boomerang sailed right of the defenders before the flaming birds shot downward and the boomerangs turned down and back, colliding with the Heartless behind their oversized shields, causing a satisfying explosion and destroying three of them. However, there were many more barging through the temple and the other monks, though skilled in the ways of martial arts, had found that their age slowed them down too much to do much of anything to the Heartless other than become a target. Master Fung was going strong just a little off to Omi's side and Dojo was actually kicking butt in the sky, preventing almost every airborne Heartless from getting close to the Xiaolin Dragons, but trying to stop these dark creatures was still proving to be a futile effort.

"AAHH! Is there no end to these strange, evil creatures?" Omi cried as five more appeared in flashes of darkness.

"I'd say not. Least not til they get what they came for." Clay grunted, stomping and causing two plates of earth on either side of a group of Heartless to rise and crush them between them. However, plenty more were still coming, the group tensing as a group of five black centaurs joined the assault.

"But why are they after Raimundo?" Kimiko asked, planting her fist into a Shadow before leaping over a charging centaur. "Wudai Mars, Fire!" Spinning around in mid air, Kimiko threw out her hands and released a powerful flamethrower point blank between the Centaur's shoulders. It struggled for a good ten seconds against the assault before collapsing. Just as it did, a jagged earth spike blew up from the ground and pierced right through its head, destroying it as Clay jumped back from another centaur's attack.

"Either because of his previous involvement with them or because his position as our representative for the Guardians." Master Fung responded, easily getting behind a Defender and land a barrage of amazingly brutal blows before his foot sunk right into its back and destroyed it. "These creatures may view him as their number one threat."

"Oh, but I am the number one threat!" Omi exclaimed, his jealously coming to the surface despite the situation as he whipped out his Wudai Weapon. "Shimo Staff!" Turning the ice stick into a dual sided mace, Omi crashed it right into a centaur's lance before lashing at its feet and knocking it over only to have to leap back to avoid the poised claws of a Neo Shadow.

"Omi, so not the time." Dojo shouted, flying low and weaving as ice blasts pelted down towards him, freezing the ground as the floating blue armoured creatures tailed him. "Someone get these guys off my tail."

"Blade of the Nebula!" He was immediately aided as what looked like a nunchuck with a chain made of windswept just over his head, knocking all of the icy pursuers skyward as Rai flew back into the battle.

"I got through to the others. They should be here soon." Rai shouted down, putting on his elemental Shan Gong Wu. However, before he could use it, his attention was caught by the sudden appearance of a woman clad in a black robe. Shivers went down his spine as she looked right up at him with a dark smile and eyes that were endless pools of bone chilling darkness.

"Wudai Warrior. I see you have other allies. I must say, this world is full of so many different beings. Even knowing the significance of this world, I still find this quite surprising." She said calmly, as if nothing here was worth worrying about.

"You! You are these creatures' leader right?" Omi shouted fiercely, somersaulting over two defenders and charging right at the dark woman. "Surrender now or suffer a humiliating defeat."

"Heh." Maleficent smirked, watching amusedly as Omi came right at her, ignoring the cries of his friends to stop. Just as he leapt at her, his fist aimed for her chest, she thrust up her hand and released a small burst of dark magic.

"AAARRGGGHHH!" Small as it might have been, it still packed enough force to fling Omi far. His body created a crater twice the size of his body as he hit the ground and though he was still conscious, it was clear that he wasn't going to make it back to his feet again.

"OMI!" Kimiko and Clay screamed, fighting desperately as they tried to reach him. The problem was Heartless were forever jumping in their way. Dojo tried to fly over, but another of the floating Heartless finally struck him with an ice blast and froze his head. His mind freezing with it, he crashed into the ground with a bang. Fortunately, he managed to take out a number of Heartless with the resulting body slam, but he shrunk a few seconds later, dazed and helpless.

"Omi, you have to get up." Rai shouted, panicking when a number of wyvern looking Heartless of different colours blocked his path, leaving Shadows free to approach the wounded boy. "Come on, or you'll be a Heartless and a Nobody in about ten seconds if you don't."

Omi couldn't even find the strength to respond as the Shadows reached him. Gulping, he looked on fearfully through squinted eyes as a Shadow straddled him and raised its claw, ready to extract his heart.

"OMI!" Everyone shouted, their eyes wide and horrified as they watched on helplessly.

However, luck was on their side as right before the Shadow struck, a large, circular light appeared right next to the fallen monk, its close proximity making every Heartless near Omi screech and retreat as Namine dived out of it. Rolling straight to her feet, she thrust her white glowing palm right into the face of a persistent Neo Shadow and destroyed it effortlessly.

"Light Palm!" Bringing the light to her other palm, Namine thrust and chopped in all directions, making an impassable circle around the downed monk. Every Heartless she touched was destroyed instantly, the Shadows and Neo Shadows unable to withstand the light magic for even a second.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Maleficent screamed, her eyes wide as shock and disbelief flooded her system. "She's just a child, and clearly not a Keybearer. Light magic takes years of training to even use even with a Keyblade, both in magic and in concealing the darkness within you, and even then, only a handful of people have ever managed to truly master it. How could a normal magician use light magic at all, especially in such a refined way?"

"Because I am the Nobody of Kairi and have a heart of my own." Namine stated as the Heartless backed off, giving Namine time to turn her storming blue eyes on the dark witch. "I guess you could call me the eighth Princess of Heart. I'm filled with only light magic."

_Another?_ Maleficent thought, stunned as she stared at Namine. She wasn't sure what surprised her more, the fact that a Nobody was helping the monks, that she claimed to actually have a heart, that she was a new Princess of Heart or the simple fact that two people basically made of light magic had both been living in this world. It wasn't often that she was knocked for a loop, but this time she actually felt her head spinning at the loud of knowledge she'd just acquired.

Taking advantage of Maleficent's frozen state and Heartless' hesitancy to touch Namine, Rai flew right over Omi and raise his hands.

"Wind!" Clay and Kimiko cried in surprise as they, Master Fung and the other monks were snatched by gales and flew into the air towards Omi. Reading Rai's intentions in his mind, Namine created a portal and threw Omi to Clay as he passed by, taking them all to safety before closing it.

"Let's book." Rai ordered, getting a nod from Namine just as Maleficent came back to her senses. Hearing Maleficent screaming for their capture, Namine opened a portal and jumped through.

"Rai, wait for ME!" Dojo yelled, stopping Raimundo in his tracks. The second he felt the tiny dragon wrapping around his leg he jumped after Namine, Maleficent's enraged screams trailing behind him as the portal disappeared.

...

Jake was quick to jump out of his seat next to Wade as the portal opened. The twelve year old super genius and Bulma had been on the satellite for hours updating the systems and were quite happy to take over the monitoring work as Jake checked on his three friends and a whimpering mini dragon as they walked out of the magical doorway, two looking dishevelled and one laden with shopping bags.

"Thank God you guys are ok." He sighed, checking each of them, particularly Raimundo, over for injuries. "I can't get a hold of Danny, Ben, Gwen or Roxas and when I called Gohan, his panicking mother almost broke my eardrums saying that Gohan had been taken by a hag through a black portal."

"Plus, we can't find any of the others through either satellite or security camera feeds even though we're still getting signals from all of their V coms." Wade added, still typing away furiously as the monitors forever switched displays. "They must have been separated from them."

"Danny, Ben and Gwen have all been captured too." Namine said softly, sobbing a second later. She couldn't hold on to the anger anymore and her fear and grief were catching up with her quickly, tears gathering in her eyes. "Paradox told me. But Roxas...Roxas was blasted down Niagara Falls."

"Oh no." Jake muttered, stiffening along with everyone else as they gasped at the news. Tears were already growing in Raimundo's eyes and Kim's weren't far behind. It wasn't long before Jake felt the stinging in his own eyes too.

"So what do we do?" Kim asked quietly, staring down at the floor before a humourless laugh left her mouth. "What can we do? From what I heard from Paradox, we're about to face a power that will destroy everything and all of our most powerful team mates have been removed from the game."

"Gathering all of our normal teams won't make any difference." Rai mumbled, wiping his eyes. "The Heartless came in large numbers, even more than I'm aware of if this witch has already removed so many Guardians in such a short time. Even if she saw us as a threat, she'd probably force us to divide with multiple attacks. We can't leave the civilians defenceless."

"We find where she's holding Gohan and the others, that's what." Bulma butted in, getting the group's attention. "If she was going to kill or make Heartless out of them, she would have done so there and then, not drag them away. She wants them alive and whole for something else. You guys are acting like they're taken out completely. We can reinsert them into the battle."

"I'll help." Dojo piped up, moving up to Rai's shoulder. "But who is this witch anyway and what exactly is she after? I've never heard of her once in over fifteen hundred years."

"Whoa, we dragons live that long?" Jake asked amazedly, getting 'are you kidding me' looks from the others. "Right, not the time. Sorry."

Shaking her head at her scaly friend, Namine turned back to the mini dragon. "Maleficent comes from a medieval world. She is a powerful, evil sorceress who, when discovering the existence of other worlds, set out to rule them all. Over time, she discovered a way to control the Heartless, though it's not perfect control as they have turned on her more than once, and sent them to do her bidding. She eventually found out about Kingdom Hearts, an endless, unsurpassable power and since then, it has been her goal to acquire it and become unstoppable."

"What's her personality like? Besides evil?" Rai asked, shivering as the woman's eyes crossed his mind again.

"Intelligent, vicious, cruel and manipulative, from the rumours I've heard." Namine answered. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she turned back to the monitor showing Niagara Falls. Her face turning determined, she raised her hand and created a portal as she turned back to the others. "You guys deal with finding the others. I'm going looking for Roxas."

"What? But Namine, if he fell down the waterfall then..." Kim started, but couldn't finish, her voice growing quieter as she talked and tears growing in everyone's eyes.

"No. Nobodies have much tougher bodies than normal humans and Roxas also has the enhanced durability magic gives its wielder." Namine said firmly, shaking her head. She refused to believe Roxas was dead. He was alive and she'd find him, case closed. "I'll be back and he will be with me when I am." With that she jumped through the portal before anyone could stop her, the light disappearing a second later.

"Good luck Namine." Everyone else could only nod in agreement with Bulma's words before turning to the computers. They had a dark witch to find and friends to save.

...

"Interesting choice Maleficent. Don't you usually pick dead forests and creepy castles as your base of operations?" Pete asked, dragging the unconscious heroes along with a chain behind him as he followed the dark witch through the wet, healthy forest.

"What, the cave wasn't dark and dank enough for you?" Maleficent retorted, not really in the mood to put up with the overly large cat man. Raimundo and his buddies escaping was an irritation, but one she could deal with. However, the fact that he was saved by a being with at least basic skill with something as dangerous as light magic set her on edge. The girl's choice in that battle suggested that, past portals, she had little knowledge of what she was capable of, only beginning to learn about her power, but the nature of light magic made it dangerous to her warriors even at a miniscule level. "Now shut your mouth fool. This place will feel like home the second my allies arrive."

"Oh boy! It's been a long time since you were all together." Pete said excitedly, completely ignoring Maleficent's demand. The witch in question was tempted to throw fire at him and was about to give in to it. Fortunately for him however, it was at that moment that three flashes of darkness shot down from the sky like comets and crashed into the earth before her. Cackling filled the area as the dark energy dissipated, revealing three very distinct forms.

The first was the most normal. He was clearly human, somewhere in his late thirties, early forties. He had long black hair hidden under a large, red pirate hat that matched his red coat. Other than the fancy, olden day pirate look about his clothes, the only unnatural thing about him was the silver hook he had where his left hand should have been.

The second looked like a giant, grey, burlap sack in the shape of an overweight man. It's eyes and mouth were pitch black, giving his face a ghoulish appearance and the top of his head sagged down. With stubby legs and bulging belly, he didn't seem like the kind who could be considered much of a threat.

The third one was no doubt the most unusual one of everyone in attendance. She looked like the cross between a chubby woman and an octopus. Her upper half, possessing her human features, was greyish blue, while her octopus half was black, the top half looking similar to a ball gown until you got to her tentacles.

"Maleficent. I hadn't expected another reunion considering that you and the bug filled blimp were obliterated." The Octopus lady commented, getting a snarled from the sack.

"Now, now Ursula, you should know that I am not so easily defeated. And reviving Oogie was child's play." Maleficent replied, fingering her staff's orb.

"Seeing as you dragged us here, I take it that you finally found the power we seek." The pirate drawled, looking distastefully around. "Strange, I thought you said that it was beyond the door to darkness, not on some backwater world."

"The world of Darkness had one of the few usable connections to Kingdom Hearts, but this world is its true home. And it's only from here that its full power can be unleashed Captain Hook." Maleficent stated, getting an understanding nod from the pirate.

"Where are Jafar and Hades?" Oogie shouted rudely. "You'd think for once in their lives that they could show up on time."

"As mouthy as ever I see." Oogie jumped as the humorous voice appeared from behind him. jumping around, the bag of bugs glared as he found Hades with his arms crossed, leaning casually against a tree. The blue skinned, flaming, God of the dead, merely looked at his nails as Oogie started jumping up and down in one of his temper tantrums, spouting incoherent words. Something about the fire on Hades' head burning his brain away.

"Maleficent, why did you bring him back?" Maleficent was completely unphased as a puff of smoke burst up beside her, heralding the arrival of a man in red, important looking robes with a gold staff shaped like a cobra in his hand. "The bag of bugs is little more than an irritation."

"Perhaps, but you never know what you might find out in the worlds. This one particularly has many surprises." Maleficent answered patiently. Being highly intelligent and smooth talking, Jafar was by far the easiest one for Maleficent to deal with, even though his greed and lust for power was only matched by his overconfidence. "It is best to have as many allies as one can."

"Well, I suppose he could make a good decoy. He sure attracts enough attention." Jafar nodded reluctantly, talking softly so only Maleficent could hear him.

"Now everyone's here, can we get started Maleficent?" Pete asked impatiently, jumping up and down almost as much as Oogie.

"Yes, we can." Maleficent smiled darkly, raising her staff. "Heartless, arise! Scour the world and find its heart." Releasing a black beam into the sky, Maleficent set everything into motion. Within minutes, black flashes appeared all over the world as uncountable Heartless emerged, surging towards every heart in sight. Screams of panic and terror echoed throughout the entire planet as the dark creatures attacked, only to scream louder as they saw people being struck down and their hearts leaving their bodies before creating even more Heartless.

Enjoying the terror she was inflicting on the world, Maleficent laughed evilly as she raised her staff again. This time, trees collapsed and animals fled as the ground violently quaked. A few seconds later, it burst up, destroying all of the trees around the evil group and formed a stone Pyramid that radiated dark magic. Cackling and sneering, the seven villains entered through the only door as the earth around the structure continued to move, levelling all of the trees for a mile radius of the structure before a hundred Heartless appeared in the resulting barren land, guarding the pyramid. Smirking coldly, Jafar decided one more touch was needed and raising his staff, he released his own, red blast of magic into the sky. The result was instant darkness. By the time they were done, what had once been a beautiful part of the rainforest looked like the perfect home for the forces of darkness.

...

Jake's knuckles had long turned white with his hands balled into fists as he watched the multiple monitors. Scenes of Heartless attacks were coming from all around the world. In cases where there were a number of metahumans, like Bellwood and the magical community of New York, and people with metahuman level weapons, like Amity Park's ghost hunters, they were managing to hold back attacks, but most were defenceless. Watching every man woman and child being targeted for slaughtering was more than the young dragon, or the others on the satellite, could take.

"We should be helping them." He cried, turning desperate eyes to Rai and Kim. "We can't just sit here and do nothing! We need to help as many people as we can."

"But there is no possible way to save them all." Wade cried in protest before the others could respond. "Eventually, everyone you didn't save would become one of these things too and you'll be overwhelmed. Assuming that you are overwhelmed in the first battle. The only way that we can save anyone is if you guys get rid of the source."

"But not even that will likely get rid of the Heartless. It's not like they're connected to Maleficent or anything." Kim retorted, biting her lip as a woman carrying a baby ran for her life from a pair of Soldiers.

"No, but it'll stop more from coming and get Gohan and the others back." Rai muttered reluctantly, nodding to Wade. "Then we might be able to stop them."

"Exactly." Wade said, looking very relieved to have Rai on his side. "We just need to find her. That's our top priority now."

"That and maybe this." Bulma exclaimed, the worry in her voice immediately drawing everyone's attention to the screen before her. "Some sort of warp appeared in space, just outside the Earth's atmosphere, and a red space ship just flew out of it before it closed. It's already entered the Earth's atmosphere and is set to land near the Valley of the Kings in Egypt."

"That warp isn't natural." Wade stated firmly, replaying the recording and scanning it. "It's no wormhole or black hole. In fact, the only thing the readings are even comparable to are the interdimensional portals to the Ghost Zone or the Null Void."

"So we have even more arrivals from the other dimensions." Kim muttered with a frown. "Think they're working for Maleficent?"

"Highly possible." Bulma nodded, typing away as she switched monitoring sources, determined to keep the unknown ship on screen. "Considering when it showed up, it has to at least have something to do with Maleficent. It's just too coincidental."

"No kidding." Rai stated, turning to the others. "Let's take the ship and follow it down while the geniuses try to find Maleficent. This thing might hold the answers we need or could have more hostiles that we don't need running around."

"Right." Kim and Jake nodded as they headed towards the ship. Preparing the ship and taking off the second the hanger doors were open, the only thing crossing their minds was hope that this wouldn't be a problem that they couldn't handle. The last thing the world needed now was three more dead heroes.


	4. Clash Of Light

**AN:** Told you it would be here soon. I'm quite happy right now. Two more chapters updated in one day. well, enjoy

* * *

><p><strong>Clash Of Light<strong>

"Seriously Donald, this is the best place you could think to land?" A boy cried exasperatedly as the door to a red space ship opened. Walking outside, the boy took a look around, hoping to see something he hadn't through the glass and scanners, and sighed irritably, finding only sand, a river, cliffs and old tombs and temples. The boy was clearly a teenager, around fourteen or fifteen, with wild brown hair, deep blue eyes and sun kissed skin. He was clad in black and silver shorts and a short sleeved jacket with a blue and red shirt underneath. Large, red pockets stood out on his pants, as did the many zippers and the yellow belts wrapped around his waist and legs. His shoes were black and yellow, matching the black, fingerless gloves bearing a yellow stripe. Finally a silver crown pendant shined in the sunlight from its place around his neck.

"What, it looked like a civilised area from up high." A squeaky voice cried indignantly as what looked like an overgrown, white duck stomped his way out of the ship. The blue hat and long sleeved shirt he was wearing matched the slight red tinge to his face quite nicely.

"Yeah, from maybe a thousand years ago." Sora retorted, waving towards the nearest, crumbling wall. "But now, these are clearly ruins."

"Come on Sora, it was an easy mistake." A soft voice called as a red headed girl, about Sora's age, clad in pink and white followed the duck out. "This could have been one of the more primitive or traditional worlds, and you couldn't tell that this place hasn't seen much action in centuries from high up. It looked a bit like Agrabah to me."

"Yeah well, he could have at least aim for the green part." Sora muttered childishly, feeling put off. Of all people, it had to be Kairi taking Donald's side.

"Well, at least this place is deserted. The ship will be safe here, he-yuck!" A humanoid dog clad in green and orange stated as he followed a tall, silver haired teenager and an oversized, humanoid mouse out of the ship before closing the door.

"Great. Now we just need to find another way of transportation to the nearest form of civilisation, find out where in the world Maleficent is and why she ignored so many worlds on the way here and then travel across possibly the entire world in order to find her. Wonderful." The sliver haired boy said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"What, you suddenly don't want to open up a corridor of darkness Riku? You were willing to use one to get here." The mouse chuckled, amused with his friends antics.

"Mickey, I do have to know where I'm going if we want a specific location in the world, otherwise we're just going to be making random jumps around it." Riku retorted, flicking his fringe out of his eye.

"Don't worry so much. After all, something will happen soon and either it'll lead us to the problem or the problem will come to us." Goofy said happily. "After all, that's how it goes down in every world we see."

"True. Sora attracts trouble like a magnet." Kairi nodded, smiling teasingly at the affronted brunette.

"Hey! Donald's desire for treasure and temper have gotten us into at least as many situations as I have." Sora cried, pointing to the squawking duck.

"Hey! I don't have a temper you big Palooka!" Donald shouted, jumping up and down and waving his fists in the air, much to the amusement of Kairi, Goofy and Mickey.

"Oh yeah, then why are you in the middle of a fit?" Sora retorted, bending down with his hands on his hips. Unable to come up with a response to that, Donald just grunted and crossed his arms, glaring at the ground.

"Well, as amusing as you clowns are, I think we better start moving." Riku stated, getting nods from the others.

"Well, let's follow the river." Mickey suggested, pointing at the fast moving water. "It's fresh water, so we should find a town or city if we follow it down." Nodding in agreement, not that they had all many other options, the group set off.

"Hey, look!" Sora shouted five minutes down the trail, pointing up into the sky. "It's an aircraft. Maybe they can help us figure out where to go."

"Maybe." Riku said hesitantly, looking suspiciously over the silver structure as it landed a few hills over. "But either this world is an advanced world, or they're from another one. That ship is too much like ours to be just for travelling around the planet."

"Well, we won't know until we check it out." Goofy said casually, getting a nod from Kairi.

"Besides, either way, they may still be willing to help us."

"Or they may be hostile Kairi. They may work for Maleficent." Riku rebutted.

"Maybe, but I've never seen any of her cohorts travel in any way other than portals or teleportation. Even you didn't." Sora added, getting a frown from Riku.

"How about we meet them before we judge them?" Mickey stated with a raised eyebrow. "If they're good, then they might help us. If they work for Maleficent, then we need to meet them so we can stop them anyway. Either way, it's best we set off for them now."

"Then it's settled." Donald stated, running ahead. Nodding amongst themselves and either rolling their eyes or chuckling at Donald's haste and excitement, the group followed after him.

...

"I knew they'd show up sooner or later. But still, why couldn't they wait a few more days?" Maleficent scowled. Having become quite intimate with the connections between the worlds, she had sensed it instantly as a dimensional pathway opened and the nature of the energy she sensed coming through could only have been the group of Keybearers and the little lackeys. No one else had such a strong stench of light on them since Ventus and Aqua, and the darkness within was easily recognised as her former pawn, Riku. So, using her magic to track them, she teleported herself nearby, though at a safe distance, and hid in the shadows of a cliff face.

Her scowl only deepened when another ship flew overhead, this one emblazoned with a large VG. She couldn't sense the overwhelming light of the blond girl, but she still knew that at least Raimundo was in there. And there may be others as well. After all, Heartless were hardly the world's greatest detectives or trackers, and it is a big world. Some other great heroes may have slipped through her search.

"If they unite, it could cause us a great deal of irritation. After all, Sora, the dog and the duck alone have ruined my plans plenty of times before and have only become more dangerous as the others joined the little crew." She growled to herself, raising her staff to attack, however, right before she summoned the Heartless, she froze, a troublesome thought crossing her mind. "If I attack one, or both groups, they will ultimately find each other and destroy all of the Heartless. The only difference to the game would be that I have less forces. And if I summon too many, the little pests will just escape, something both have an annoying knack of succeeding at when faced with impossible odds." She mumbled, furrowing her brow as she tried to deal with the situation. "But..." She said slowly, a sly grin crossing her face as a solution formed in her head. "If they were to believe the others were their enemies, they would tired each other out and the Heartless could end all of my enemies at once." Cackling to herself, she teleported herself to a hidden place between the groups just as the Guardians exited their ship, raised her staff and fired multiple fire blasts in both directions, making sure the flames were red as she did. Watching as the two hero teams panicked, dodging the fire and bringing Keyblades to life, with malicious glee, Maleficent teleported herself out of the line of fire before they could see her to a farer ledge, leaning back to watch the results of her work.

...

Flying overhead, the Guardians had quickly found the red and yellow ship, and had intended to land close by when they noticed that it was empty and its inhabitants were moving on foot a little down the river and changed their landing zone to a little ahead of them. Not far, but far enough to get out and get some distance between them and the ship before they met this group. No sense risking their ride getting unnecessarily damaged.

"Well, they definitely know we're here." Kim stated, watching the group running towards them as the ship landed.

"And to think we're the stealthier members of the Valour Guardians." Rai said dryly, letting go of the controls when the landing sequence was complete. "No matter. We were planning on being blunt anyway."

"Then let's go before they reach the ship." Jake said firmly. "But let's walk it. Don't let them know what we're capable of until we know what side they're on, ok?"

"Sounds like a plan." Kim nodded, smirking a second later. "Besides, I can still carry my lip gloss in case they try anything beforehand. They'll think I'm just being girly."

Grinning at the sneaky red head, Rai opened the door and led the others out. However, they didn't get ten feet before the air heated up and a red flash came right for them from the direction of the other group.

"Move!" Jake shouted, diving into an army roll to the side, Kim following him with a flip not a second later while Rai leapt in the opposite direction. The fire ball landed harmlessly between them, doing little more than leaving a large burn mark on the ground where they had stood, but before they could sigh in relief, four more were coming at them in quick succession.

"Oh forget this." Rai growled as the three of them leapt, flipped and cart wheeled around the first two. Jumping over the third, he took into the air and threw up an open palm. "Wind!" the resulting gale blew the last blast away with ease, leaving the Guardians free to regroup. "Well, I'd say we're dealing with more hostiles."

"Then we have to move fast and hard." Kim said firmly, punching her fist into her palm. "We can't let them rejoin Maleficent."

"Then let's move troops." Jake ordered, charging off. The other two weren't far behind him.

...

"Aero!" Five voices cried out simultaneously as four different looking Keyblades and a wand with a white headpiece containing a gold star, were thrust into the air. Green light flashed from all of the mediums and their wielders, plus Goofy, were quickly surrounded by a whirlwind deflecting the barrage of fire coming their way.

"I knew they were enemies." Riku growled, glaring over the hill.

"Well pat yourself on the back when we've stopped them." Donald snapped, tensing his arm and gathering his magic as he saw a flicker of movement coming their way.

"But be careful everyone." Kairi ordered, dropping her own Keyblade into a defensive position. "Don't rush in. We don't know who they are or what they're capable of."

"She's right." Mickey nodded, grabbing Riku's shirt as he made to rush ahead. "If they are working for Maleficent, then they have the advantage of knowing about us. If we want to win, we have to play defensive and make them come to us."

"But we have no idea if they're brave enough to come and face-"

"Typhoon Boom, Wind!" Before Riku could even finish his sentence, the entire group was blown off their feet screaming as they were struck by a shockwave.

"Now was just rude!" Donald shouted furiously, raising his staff as a boy in red and white robes appeared on the upcoming ledge. However, before he could cast a single spell, an open container of lip gloss sailed down, landing right between Donald and Goofy. "Lip gloss? What are they...augh, that stinks." Donald lost all sense of anger as the putrid smell filled his nose. It only took a second for him to collapse, completely knocked out, with Goofy right behind him.

"Donald! Goofy!" Sora cried panicky, jumping to his feet.

"Sora, don't go near them." Mickey shouted, stopping the brunette in his tracks.

"But-"

"They're surrounded by knock out gas. You'll just fall asleep too." Riku interrupted, turning back to the enemy just in time to see a Chinese boy in red and blue and a red headed girl clad in purple and black join the first guy.

"They surprised us with the first attack and while we were disorientated, they lowered our numbers." Kairi stated, staring up at the trio warily. "Very smart considering there are twice as many of us as there is of them."

"But any of us can take on any of them." Riku growled. "Let's go."

...

"I was hoping that would take one or two more out." Kim commented, glaring down at the unusual gathering, raising an eyebrow at the two she had managed to knock out and the mouse. "And what's with the humanoid, oversized animals?"

"Don't know, but that isn't what we should be focusing on. Look." Jake pointed as the remaining four opponents charged towards them. "Every one of them is holding a Keyblade. They're all different from Roxas' blades, but they all still have the basic shape. That means we're dealing with people capable at both magic and swordsmanship."

"But we know how Keybearers fight. They know nothing of us." Rai responded. "Let's fight." Crouching, Rai sprung himself into a dive as the Keybearers made it halfway up the ledge and flew down right past them, starling them all, before coming to a halt in the air and spinning around, his hands up and pointing right at them.

"Everyone move!" Sora cried, eyes wide and sucking air in deeply as he turned to the monk. However, they never had a chance.

"Wudai Star Wind!"

"WAAAAAHHHH!" The resulting fierce whirlwind struck the Keybearers like a sledge hammer, throwing them all into the air, right up towards Jake and Kim.

"Wings of the dragon!" His wings appearing on his back with a flash of flames, Jake jumped right into the whirlwind and spread his new limbs, using the wild wind to rise high into the air quick and easy. Staying in control in such dangerous winds was difficult, but practicing this move with Rai had allowed him to master it, provided it the air patterns Rai used and he was ready for it.

Smirking, Rai waited until Jake had reached a great height and the Keybearers had passed Kim before letting the wind die, ending the whirlwind in an instant.

"Dragon UP!" Shocking the Keybearers as he transformed into in a flash of fire, he twisted his body into a dive and curl his wings close to his back, aiming like a clawed torpedo right for his enemies.

"Don't think so." Riku snarled, twisting his body to face the dragon as he raised his Keyblade. "Dark A-"

"Forget about me?" Riku had just enough time to see Kim propelling right at him like a rocket before her fist landed right into his cheek with more force than her body should have been capable of. The move had Riku falling very quickly, but Kim was left right in Jake's path, confusing the battle ready Mickey and Sora.

However, any confusion over her position and strength was quickly ended as a wind blew her out of the way. And Jake was right on top of them.

_The wind boy shot her at Riku, cutting off his attack, and left the rest of us so focused on how she did it and why she'd stop in her ally's line fire that none of us would be ready when the dragon right behind her reached us._ Mickey realised, kicking himself for not paying enough attention. _An offensive move designed to also provide another distraction._

"ARGH!" Kairi screamed as Jake's claws struck her right arm and shoulder, causing her to spin in the air, the momentum of her fall increasing as she did.

"Hey! How dare you!" Sora snapped furiously, swinging his Ultima Blade for Jake's arms, only to jerk with a scream as a fist slammed into his back.

"Nice try." Rai sneered, zipping off to the side as Jake reached them, striking Sora's exposed hip.

"AARRGGHH!" Blood glittered over Jake's claws as he continued his dive, Sora's screaming form plummeting down nearby as fast as Kairi's.

Mickey however, had learned from his mistakes and taken the time he had to back flip away from Jake, keeping an eye on the other two while he was at it. Getting his feet by a cliff, he kicked off and raised his Keyblade, surprising the Guardians as he gathered light energy at its end from all around him.

"Light, give me power!" Creating a large concentration, he fired a light beam right at Jake, landing it right in the dragon's stomach.

"ARGH!" Unprepared and already moving fast, Jake was blow off to the side, breaking his dive form, and crashed his side into an old stone gate of an ancient tomb, crumbling it before hitting the ground.

Mickey wasn't the only one retaliating though. Having cast aero and cushioning his fall at the last minute, Riku leapt back into the game, enhanced strength greater than Roxas' evident in the leap. Coating his Keyblade in dark energy, he kicked off the cliff and higher into the air, right at where Raimundo was moving to avoid a ball of light from Mickey.

"Back off mullet head." Kim shouted, whipping out her hairdryer and firing the grappling hook into the cliff face as she leapt at him, her feet poised to slug his gut. However, he put an immediate halt to that as he tossed his Keyblade into the air and cut the rope. Gasping, Kim felt her body dropping short of the mark only seconds before reaching Riku and was left helpless as he planted his boot into her stomach hard. Winded and in pain, Kim smashed into the ground, mentally thanking whoever was listening that it was the cushioning sand she fell on, not stone.

"KP! Am Drag!" Rai cried, sparing each of them a worried glance as he dodged a cannon balling Mickey and looped around a flying dark magic covered Keyblade from Riku. He sighed in relief, as he saw them groaning and slowly forcing themselves up, but between worry about them and avoiding Mickey and Riku's attacks, he never noticed Sora shoot up behind him and slam his Keyblade into his back.

"AARRRRRGGHHH!" Eyes wide as what felt like fire ran through his back, Rai fell to the ground, whipping up a real nice cloud of sand as he did.

"Wudai Warrior!" Kim cried fearfully as she and Jake dashed to their fallen friend. Reaching him, they found his shirt had a nice rip in it, but sighed in relief to find that the cut was only skin deep. Chalking the not so fatal injury up to whatever magic allowed Xiaolin monks to take a beating, they helped him to his feet.

"Are you ok Wudai? Can you still fight?" Jake asked before spitting up fireballs at the charging Keybearers, keeping them off balance as Rai pulled himself together.

"Yeah. But that hurt like hell." Rai groaned, leaning on Kim a little as he tested his injured muscles. "He's at least as strong as Roxas. Maybe stronger. Another blow like that in the right place and I'll be out. Jake's scales are tough, he should be alright, but..."

"You and I need to avoid the blades at all costs." Kim nodded as Sora and Riku batted through the fireballs and lashed out at them, forcing them to leap away in opposite directions. Having paid attention to the conversation, Jake ignore the others coming and wrapped his tail around Sora's leg and tossed him into Riku. If he was the only one who take the shots then he'd risk them. Anything to protect his friends.

...

To say that Namine was getting more desperate and irritated with her search was an understatement. She knew that the river huge, but she really had hoped that she'd find her brethren by now. She'd tried searching, asking people if they'd seen him and even tried her telepathy, but still no luck. If he was unconscious and wasn't dreaming, then there was no way to pick up his mind from a distance.

_There is another reason telepathy wouldn't work._ A soft voice said in the back of her head, but she forced it down, refusing to acknowledge its existence. She would find Roxas alive and that was all there was to it.

"If only I could use Roxas' aura eyes spell." She grumbled, kicking a rock as she walked across the dirt and stone between the cliff and the river. "His aura would be so much whiter and brighter than anyone else's that he'd stand out like a-"

"AAAAHHHHH! MOMMY, THERE ARE BLACK CREATURES OVER THERE!" Whipping her head up at a child's scream, she followed it to a nearby tourist ship to find a little boy clinging desperately to his mother as they were surrounded by Neo Shadows.

"...beacon! Especially to the Heartless." She snapped her fingers, a bright smile growing on her face at the high possibility of Roxas being where the Heartless appeared before exactly what was going on crossed her mind. "Oh wait, they need help." Creating a light portal, she jumped through, quickly lighting up her hands as soon as she touched the ship's deck.

"Light Palm!" Swinging her arms across her body, she easily obliterated three Neo Shadows at once as her hands collided with them. Another three leapt towards her, two aiming for her and the other for the mother and child behind her, but with a quick spin on her heel with her hands flung out at either side of her, she quickly and gracefully slapped them all into oblivion.

"Is that all of them onboard?" Namine asked, turning to the mother and child and checking them over for injuries while she waited for the answer. She sighed in relief as she realised that they didn't have a scratch on them.

"No, a couple more were attacking downstairs. They seemed driven to get an injured blond boy that was found floating belly up in the river. People were arguing whether he should be called Nobody or Key of Destiny for some reason before the creatures showed up. My son was near them when they appeared and these ones followed us."

"They sensed his good heart." Namine told the mother as she ran for the stairs. "Thank you for the information."

"Thank you so much for saving us." The mother shouted back, her son waving happily. Namine spared a glance back and grinned at them as she continued on her way in search of Roxas.

"Just give them the Nobody."

"NO, he's a hero, we have to protect him."

It wasn't hard for Namine to find her targets. Even now, with dark creatures attacking the boat and terrifying everyone, the passengers were still fighting with each other as much as they were defending themselves. Barging into the room where the voices were coming from, Namine arrived just in time to see a furious man in his mid forties with black, greying hair, roughly grab Roxas' limp body from behind a stacking of chairs and prepare to throw him towards a pair Soldier Heartless, despite the number of people around him trying to stop him.

"Put the poor kid back down!"  
>"NO! He's what they want and I'm not going to risk my life to protect a heartless brat. They'll disappear once they get him, just watch."<p>

Namine felt her blood boil at that. The man was only looking out for himself and he was quite happy to have Roxas killed if that would keep him safe. Whipping out her daggers from her wrists, she concentrated on everything Roxas had taught her about controlling light magic and forced the power into her daggers. She smiled at her success as her magic poured into them, much like when she used them to cast her magical ball, however, this time the power encased them, like Roxas tended to do with his blades. Aiming quickly, and hoping the power did dissipate when she let go, she tossed both daggers. One hit a Soldier right in the centre of the back. Jerking, the whole creature glowed white for a moment before exploding, the energy released knocking the second Heartless back. The other dagger landed not an inch away from the self serving man's feet, stopping him in his tracks. Like everyone else, he turned to the door to find the assailant, but unlike the rest, who stared at her with happiness, relief and hope, he paled and almost had a heart attack at the look promising death that was directed right at him. Gulping loudly, he put Roxas down gently just as Namine charged for her daggers.

"AAHHHH!" Scaring the man senseless, she spun gracefully as she reached where he'd jumped from, grabbing her dagger without losing any momentum, and span around to face the rising Soldier, pointing both of her recollected daggers right at its head, their tip meeting.

"Magical Ball!" Just as the mindless creature charged blindly towards her, Namine's purple outlined light ball burst forth and struck it right in the face. It was obliterated in seconds.

The crowd cheered at the destruction of the Heartless, many thanking Namine or asking her jovially when she learned to fight, but other than a few grins here and there she ignored them. Only one person was on her mind right now and he was laying brokenly on the floor.

Giving the man who had tried to have Roxas killed one more venomous glare even her brother would swear she wasn't capable of, she kneeled over the boy and raised her hands, releasing her healing power into his being.

"Looks like I got to you just in time." She muttered to the still unconscious Keybearer as waves of light energy crossed his body. He was in bad shape, not that that wasn't to be expected. No normal human or even most Nobodies would survive the fall he went through, especially after a fight. She knew she wouldn't. But Roxas was more powerful and always had something else going for him. Something increased his durability beyond where it should be and it only seemed to be growing stronger over time. But that all said, he was still dyeing. Had Namine got there even minutes later, he'd have been gone.

Sagging a little as she finished, a small grin crossed Namine's face as Roxas groaned. Slowly opening his eyes, he looked confusedly at his surroundings before settling on Namine, a warm smile growing slowly on his face.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'd be dead without you?" Roxas asked jokingly, slowly sitting up with a yawn.

"Probably because you would be. Again." Namine responded lightly, playfully slapping his arm. "You do realise of course that you have the highest record of being in need of beyond human healing abilities of all of the Guardians right? I mean, I haven't needed to heal anyone nearly as much as I've healed you."

"Yeah well, just chalk it up with everything else under my dumb luck." Roxas chuckled, wrapping his arms around Namine in a thankful and comforting hug. Despite the humour they were exhibiting, they were both fully aware that they were both a little shaken up by what had happened to Roxas. However, he quickly pulled back as how he got so injured came flooding back to the forefront of his mind and focused his panicking eyes on Namine's confused ones.

"Namine, it was Maleficent! You heard of her right? And she brought the Heartless with her."

"I know Roxas. You aren't the only one she went after. And Paradox warned me and Kim of her arrival." Namine responded, looking right into his eyes as soothingly as she could to try and calm him down a little. "She's one of the masters of darkness that he warned Ben about. And speaking of Ben, she has already captured him, Gwen, Gohan and Danny. I just managed to stop her from getting Rai, so she knows about me, but I don't know how much knowledge she has on the others."

"Then we have to save them!" Roxas cried, his panic surpassing its previous levels, causing many people around them to stare pointedly at the other tourists as if to say I told you so. "Where are the others? Do you know where Maleficent took her captives? Has she brought anyone else with her?"

"In order, at the satellite last time I checked, I don't know and I don't know." Namine sighed, rubbing her temples. Healing Roxas' dying form back to perfect health wasn't as taxing as it would have been a few months back, but it still did leave her sluggish and on top of that, her stress and Roxas' panic driven loud voice was starting to cause a headache. "The others might have found out more since I left. Let's call and see."

Nodding, Roxas waited earnestly as Namine pulled out her V com and activated the communication line, unable to find his own.

"Valour's Light, This is Namine. I found Roxas and he'll be fine." She called as Bulma and Wade appeared on the screen.

"Roxas! You're alive! Thank goodness." Bulma exclaimed, a wide, ecstatic smile crossing her face. "We all thought you were a goner for sure."

"You can't get rid of me that easily." Roxas responded hastily, wanting to get straight to the point. "So have you guys got any leads on where Ben and the others are being held? Or what Maleficent is up to right now?"

"What she's up to is kinda obvious." Wade stated, his face turning dark and serious. "You guys are currently in one of the few places Heartless aren't causing mass fear and destruction. Large bodies of water are the only places they seem to be avoiding."

"However, we had one potential way of getting information." Bulma continued, her voice turning worried. "A red ship came through a warp in space that gave of readings similar to the ghost portal or the portal to the Null Void. The others went to check it out, expecting it to have something to do with Maleficent, but they've ended up in a battle with the crew and it's turning on them. Two crewmen were knocked out by Kim's lip gloss container, but the other four are standing strong. And get this, they all have weapons that could only be different Keyblades."

"WHAT?" Namine and Roxas screamed, their eyes wide in shock.

"Four Keybearers? Together?" Roxas asked as Namine just sat there. Though she was thinking along the same lines as her companion, she was just too gobsmacked to talk anymore. "I only know of three other Keybearers, even through all my travels around the worlds. But all three of them did know each other. Tell me is one an overgrown mouse, another have long, silver hair and one a guy around my height with brown hair?"

"Yeah, for all three." Bulma nodded. "The fourth is a girl with red hair. See for yourselves." She added, transferring the video feed to show the fight. Roxas and Namine could only stare on in amazement as they watched their teammates fighting four very familiar faces.

"Kairi." Namine said softly, her eyes fixed on the red head as she swung her blade at Rai only for him somersault over it.

"And Sora." Roxas added just as softly, entranced by the brunette teaming up with Riku as they tried to take down Jake, making the dragon grimace as Way To Dawn managed to slash down his side. When he was with the Organisation, Roxas had desperately wanted to meet Sora. He saw his other as the only way he could be complete and free of the Organisation. Now however, he was free, he felt complete without the brunette and he wasn't sure if he would survive the way he was if he got close to his other. But now he knew that he had no choice. To save his friends, the Keybearers and the world, he'd have to come face to face with the boy he had always wanted and now feared to meet. "Come on Namine. We have to stop this."

Nodding slowly beside him, Namine put the V com away straight after finding the exact location of the others and opened a portal. It was a very quiet duo that walked through, leaving all the tourists that had still been around them very confused.

...

"Light!"

"Dark Aura!"

"Whoa, aah!" Jake had to crash into a belly slide as a thin stream of light came at him only for a blast of darkness to just miss his head as he pulled himself into a roll. However, as he was avoiding the projectiles, both Sora and Riku jumped into the air, aiming their Keyblades down at Jake's wings as they dropped back down.

Growling as he caught the move, Rai spared just enough time to grab Kairi's Keyblade as she swung it at him and used it to fling the surprised girl at Mickey before directing his hands towards Kim.

"KP! Wind!" He cried, summoning a gale.

Looking in the direction Rai was aiming for as Mickey jumped back to avoid Kairi, Kim got the message instantly and ran right towards Jake, jumping as the gale reached her back and twisting into a flying kick as the wind propelled her, Rai flying up beside her a second later.

"Sora, Riku, look out!" Kairi shouted, causing both boys to turn their heads. However, it was too late as Kim's foot crashed right into Sora's side. Not a second later, Raimundo had grabbed Riku's wrist and flung him over his shoulder and into the ground.

"ARRGH!" Eyes clenched shut tightly; Sora crashed into the ground and quickly rolled onto his uninjured side, clasping his wound as more blood was released. Riku however, quickly rolled back onto his feet, kicking Rai in the chest as he approached in the process. Not giving the monk the chance to regain his balance, Riku pointed his Keyblade at him and quickly released another dark blast, hitting Raimundo once again in the chest.

"ARGH!" Raimundo screamed as he hit the ground, crossing his hands over his chest as he arched his back, trying to relieve the pain coursing through his torso.

"Hang on Wudai!" Jake called, running on all fours with Kim at his side. However, they came to a quick halt as a pair of lightning bolts struck the ground before them and had to jump back as a pair of light balls came their way, providing more than enough time for Kairi and Mickey to get between them and their friend.

"Girlfriend, you better step aside." Kim snarled, running right towards Kairi.

"Not happening." Kairi snapped viciously, rage burning in her eyes after what Kim had done to Sora. Charging herself, she slashed at Kim only for the older redhead to dive into a sliding kick. Eyes widening, Kairi leapt over the attack, however, Kim was prepared and grabbed the girl's leg along the way before pulling her down hard, face first into the sand.

Beside them, Mickey was proving to be a much more difficult foe. The large mouse was forever dodging Jake's claws and tail and deflecting his flames while forcing Jake to dodge slashes, light balls and kicks from all different directions as the mouse leapt around him, trying to offset him. The two seemed to have found themselves at a stalemate.

While all of that was going on, Riku stomped Rai's stomach, leaving the monk gasping and choking as Way To Dawn was placed right at his neck.

"We'll tell your buddies you failed." Riku snarled, glaring down at Raimundo's scared and angry eyes.

"Go ahead. It'll just give them an even greater drive to defeat you." Raimundo retorted, summoning up as much courage as he could. If he was going to die, he was going to do it with dignity. Forget that begging for your life crap.

Just glaring in response, Riku raised his Keyblade and swung it down.

"NO!" Kim screamed, causing everyone bar Riku to jump as she ran. She'd never make it in time and she knew it.

However, right before the blade could touch Rai, a large white flash caught Riku's eye. Spinning around, Riku barely got his Keyblade up in time to protect himself from what looked like a huge buzz saw made of light.

As it was, the attack was too much for him to withstand and the force of it quickly flung him back towards his friends. Grunting as he slammed into the ground, he lifted his head up to see who had struck him and froze as the light dispersed and its creator landed firmly on the ground, his body poised to move at a second's notice and his two Keyblades circling his being.

"You're still around?" He cried, disbelief evident in his loud voice, drawing the attention of everyone else. The fights instantly stopped as Roxas sprung forward, placing his own blade at Riku's neck much like he had at Rai's not a moment ago. Kairi, and from his place on the ground, Sora tensed, very scared for their friend and astounded that whoever was threatening him wasn't only a Keybearer, but was capable of wielding TWO blades. Not one of them could do that. Overjoyed, if slightly pained, cheers left the mouths of Raimundo, Kim and Jake as their faces lit up, shocked, but absolutely ecstatic to see their friend alive.

Mickey however, had a very different face from the others. His jaw had hit the ground as he stared at the blond boy. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Though Sora's was pretty similar, he hadn't seen that face in eleven years and it hadn't aged a day.

_Ventus? But how is this possible? But then, he, Eraqus and Yen Sid were the only people I ever met capable of wielding such an advanced form of light magic. Even Sora, Kairi and I don't come close. But how does Riku know him and why does he seem to hate him?_

"Yeah. I'm still around. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't kill one the world's greatest heroes." Roxas said shortly, matching Riku's glare with one of his own before turning to his friends. "And I'd really appreciate it if you guys didn't kill the closest thing I have to a brother or father over there or his friends." He said, much more warmly as he pointed to Sora, eliciting gasps from everyone present, other than the blonds and Riku.

"Brother slash father figure? That guy's Sora?" Jake asked, staring incredulously at the dumbstruck brunette.

"Yes, he is." Namine nodded as she joined Roxas, getting another gasp from Riku before she coached Roxas to remove his Keyblade. "This here is Riku, the girl is my other, Kairi, the mouse is Master Mickey, King of Disney Castle and the two sleeping over there are his Captain, Goofy and his Magician, Donald. Don't worry, they're good guys."

"I thought the heroes of this world wiped out all of the Organisation 13." Riku growled as he stood up, glaring at Roxas. "How did you survive."

"He's the reason we survived when we did it." Kim snapped, pushing Riku out of Roxas' face. "Now back off pretty boy. I don't care if Namine says you're good, I'll still leave you black and blue."

"Guys, now's not the time to fight or explain anything." Namine interrupted before anything could escalate or Mickey could ask the unspoken questions written on his face. Raising her hand towards Donald and Goofy, she ignored the gasps from the Keybearers as she created a portal just big enough for hand to slide through and used it to grab the lip gloss container. Holding her breath, she pulled her hand back out and tossed it to Kim so that she could recap it before creating another portal under the unconscious duo, causing them to sink right into it and disappear.

"What the? What did you do to them?" Kairi cried, angry, but very scared at the ease at which Namine made two of their most experienced warriors disappear.

"Heartless are swarming just over the cliffs. Maleficent set you guys up to wear each other out so her minions can dispose of you all." Namine started, creating another portal right in front of her. "So I sent them to our satellite, the same place this portal goes to. We have to get out of here now."

"Why should we trust a Nobody?" Riku snapped rudely, eyeing her with obvious distrust.

"Riku, that's light magic she's using." Mickey stated, defending the blond girl before her male counterpart could lash out. "I'm not sure how she can possibly use such powerful light magic, but it should be safe. Besides, look! The Heartless are here and we're too tired out to fight them all."

Truer words hadn't been spoken, for at the moment the cliff faces around them turned black with Heartless. Looking at them all, Mickey wasn't sure that they could take them all even if they were at full strength.

"Look, we don't have time to discuss this. It's risk it or die anyway." Roxas snapped as he turned his Keyblades toward the coming army. "Light!"

Mickey's amazement only grew as he saw the thirteen pillars burst from the Keyblades, charging towards and destroying a great many Heartless. However, he quickly shook his head clear. Now wasn't the time for a wandering mind. Taking the chance offered to them, he chose to trust Namine and...Ventus?...and jumped through the portal.

"Everyone follow the overgrown rodent." Rai shouted, waving towards the portal. Focusing his power carefully, he gently rose Sora from the ground and, ignoring the boy's startled noises, directed him into the light, following instantly after. Kairi, Kim and Jake were quickly through it after them, but Riku was still being defiant. Getting infuriated, Roxas ignored the massing Heartless completely, leaving them to his now randomly moving pillars as he shoved Riku through as hard as he could before following him through, Namine right behind him.

With the blonds gone and all traces of light magic disappearing, only the confused Heartless were audience to the piercing, scream of blood boiling rage of the dark witch.


	5. Disputes And Discussions

**Disputes And Discussions**

"Quite the sophisticated base you have here." Kairi commented, smiling awkwardly as she looked around the satellite's control room. She was a little uneasy about the situation. One second they're fighting for their lives against these people, the next, their being saved from quickly approaching Heartless none of them had noticed by two blonds that appeared out of nowhere and brought to the base of those they'd only been fighting two minutes ago. Having not been at this sort of thing nearly as much as her friends, she was more than a little lost. "So it's safe to say that you're the good guys. Are you the ones that destroyed the entire Organisation 13?"

"Apparently not." Riku interrupted before the Guardians could respond, glaring heatedly at Roxas' cold eyes. "It looks like the rumours of the whole Organisation's end are false. This Nobody still remains alive."

His venomous words had an instant reaction over everyone in the room. Kairi and Sora, who was getting healed by Namine, tensed as they brought what Riku said before entering the portal back to the forefront of their minds, Donald and Goofy, who were just waking up, quickly raised their weapons at the announcement and Mickey turned his head back and forth from Roxas to Riku confusedly. The Guardians all quickly through glares at the silver haired Keybearer, their hands itching to punch him while in the background, Wade and Bulma spun around in their chairs, Wade looking irritated and Bulma about ready to explode. Namine, unlike the rest of them, ignored what was just said completely and continued healing Sora while Roxas expression didn't change even slightly. The only way you knew he'd felt anything was if you saw the white flash of magic in his eyes.

"What, you're not going to deny it?" Riku spat, getting right up in Roxas' face. "Number Thirteen! The Key of Destiny. The Nobody of Sora that went from world to world doing Xemnas' bidding."

"Destroying Heartless, nothing more." Roxas snapped back, his voice as fierce as Riku's. "Which is more than I can say for you, wielder of darkness. how many lives were you ruining when you were running around helping Maleficent and the Heartless Ansem? You have no room to attack me over what I've done in the past."

"Don't you dare turn this on me!" Riku shouted, clenching his fists. "I made up for my mistakes. Besides, I'm meant to exist! I'm a complete person who feels remorse and guilt when I do something wrong. You're just an emotionless husk who has stolen half of Sora's power. Get it? You're a part of Sora, nothing else. You have to go back to him, it's your destiny!"

'Just try and make me!" Roxas shouted furiously, holding up his glowing hand threateningly as Riku reached for him. "I'd be quite happy to fight you. Remember what happened last time? Or were the injuries I gave you that day enough to wipe out your memory? I wiped the floor with you. And I've grown much stronger since then."

"Touch one hair on his head and I'll blow you right out into space." Rai growled, stepping up beside Roxas before Riku could do anything else.

"You would protect a despicable, emotionless creature like a Nobody?" Donald cried, raising his staff. "Aren't you supposed to be the heroes? Isn't that why we're not beating each other up?"

"Roxas saved all of our lives from the Organisation, got us to the main members safely, was at least involved in the destruction of three of them and has fought to save us and the world plenty of times since then." Kim snapped, coming up on Roxas' other side, cracking her fists. "We've all seen that he and Namine have emotions, especially since Roxas' keep getting targeted by both a villain that feeds off fear and his reactions to the discrimination that he's had to go through from a lot of the public even to this day. He's moody, kind and shy. I don't care what you THINK, he's our friend and cares about us as much as we care about him. now back off."

"EXCUSE ME!" Jake screamed as Riku went to retort, Namine finishing healing Sora and helping him stand up. "As much fun as it would be to watch the melee that's about to break out, this is neither the time nor the place. In case you're all forgetting, we're on the same side and the big blue and green ball just outside the window is quickly getting overrun with Heartless. On top of that, Gohan, Ben, Gwen and Danny are still in Maleficent's clutches, so how about we go kick the witch bitch's butt and then if we're all still alive, we can watch light and dark Keyblade Bearers turn some park into a warzone."

"I agree with him." Mickey said firmly, pointing to Jake while giving Donald and Riku, both of whom looked ready to disagree, a firm look. "We don't need more enemies right now. Maleficent has brought in all of her associates plus the Heartless, meaning we'll need all the help we can get. Besides, Roxas and his blond friend have become a part of this world and Keybearers aren't supposed to meddle in the affairs of other worlds, regardless of how unusual this is. Unless you intend to take on this whole world, labelling you as the bad guys, you will have to leave them be."

"But Roxas is Sora's Nobody!" Riku cried exasperatedly, throwing a hand towards the blond boy as he turned to Mickey. "Sora will never be at full strength with Roxas running around and Nobodies are a threat to all that exists! And Namine's no different. To be whole again, she must return to Kairi."

"Wait, I have a Nobody?" Kairi asked confusedly, turning to look at the girl in question. "But when my heart was removed, my body became a comatose shell. So how are you here?"

"I come from half of your soul, but my physical form came from a little bit of Sora." Namine answered, moving hesitantly towards Kairi. "It is true that I am basically your Nobody. However, you and I are different from most and not just in how I came about. You see, a fragment of your heart was chipped off when your heart was removed from Sora and went inside me. Over time, your heart has healed completely, and the shard in my chest grew into a full heart. As it happened, we both gained the power that we lost from the separation, so we are both as powerful as you would have been if you never lost your heart. And I can feel emotions as well as you do, so I no longer have any desire to remerge with you. I'm already basically whole and to merge back into you now, though you would become twice as powerful, would reduce me to nothing more than a voice in the back of your head. Please don't ask me to give up my body and freedom."

"We do have proof of what Namine said about her heart." Wade called before Riku or Donald could add their opinions again. Tapping away at the console, he brought up a medical record of Namine. "Check it out, there's the beating heart right there." Sure enough, the screen quickly changed to a black and white recording of Namine's beating heart.

"Amazing." Kairi muttered, turning from the screen and offering Namine a smile. "I guess that makes you more like my twin. I always did want a sister." Giggling, she wrapped her arms around Namine and sighed happily as the blond girl relaxed into her embrace and wrapped her arms around her in return, smiling into Kairi's shoulder.

"Even I know that this sort of thing doesn't happen by normal means." Sora commented, frowning curiously as he stared at the screen. "But considering that normally a body without a heart doesn't move at all, the magic of Heartless and Nobodies throws normality completely out the window. So is that what happened to you too Roxas?" He asked, turning to his own carbon copy.

"No." Roxas responded hesitantly, turning nervously towards Sora. Standing up to Riku was one thing, he was a completely different person and one Roxas had developed an irritation towards. However, Sora was another matter entirely. He was still connected to the brunette and as much as he hated to admit it, a part of him did still feel like he belonged within Sora. Of all people, he desperately wanted Sora to agree that Roxas was entirely his own person and like him the way he was. If Sora saw him as nothing more than a Nobody, he wasn't sure that he could take it. He cared too much about Sora and his opinion. "Unlike Namine, I could feel emotions from day one, even though I didn't realise that I was doing it until Namine told me. I don't know where it came from, but I've always had a full heart."

"How is that possible yer Majesty?" Goofy asked, turning to Mickey. After all, the Keyblade Master definitely knew the most about Heartless and Nobodies. "Wouldn't that mean that Sora would have to have left a heart inside his body when he became a Heartless?"

"That's exactly what it means." Mickey nodded, staring fixatedly on a squirming Roxas. "Just another thing that's unusual about him."

"What do you mean another?" Bulma asked snappishly. Her anger towards Riku was clearly directed at the whole group and she wasn't the type to calm down too quickly when people were speaking so horribly of people she knew and cared about.

"Nobodies at Roxas and Namine's level have always had absolutely no changes made to their physical appearance. But both of them have blond hair and a different skin tone. Plus, on close inspection, you can see that their eyes are different shades. Roxas' are a crystal blue, a little lighter than Sora's ocean blue eyes. Meanwhile, Namine has Sora's eye colour as opposed to Kairi's violet-blue, though that little feature probably came from what part of Sora made her existence possible. And look at their faces in comparison to Sora and Kairi's. In Namine's case, the continued growth after the separation from Kairi and the bit of Sora in her would explain why her facial structure is slightly different, but Roxas' is much more noticeable. Similar, but still noticeably different if you actually look at them. I'd chalk all of the alterations in him, as well as Namine's hair colour, up to the heart beating inside his chest. The characteristics of the heart's owner have taken over the body."

"But where would I have gotten a third heart from?" Sora cried, completely perplexed. Roxas however, had stopped paying attention. He was too busy putting together the remaining dots. Namely, the memories that were neither his nor Sora's.

"Maleficent holds the answer to that." He muttered, drawing everyone's attention, the room going very quiet and tense. "I've had a few memory flashes. Like I used to get from time to time about Sora's past from before we split. I had no memories whatsoever when I was first 'born'." He added, seeing the confused looks on Sora and his friends' faces. "But they're not his, I'm in them. Or someone who looks like me. Only I know I've never been to the places I've seen or met the people in them. Though I have to admit, I got a really strong sense of longing when the image of a guy named Terra crossed my mind and when I noticed a blue haired girl standing next to 'me' when 'I' apparently confronted Maleficent."

"Terra? And a blue haired girl? Does the name Aqua mean anything to you?" Mickey asked. All the pieces were fitting in perfectly. The answer to his question would most likely remove the 0.001% chance of him being wrong.

"Aqua?" Roxas frowned, concentrating on the name. Suddenly he gasped, clutching his head in pain as an image of the blue haired girl crossed his mind. This time however, she was facing him with a warm, loving smile as she gave him a charm. It was a green star shape with the Organisation's symbol in the centre, except it was upside down. Roxas could also feel a sense of pride at seeing that way, giving him the feeling that it had a very different meaning to what he was used to.

"Yeah! The blue haired girl, she was Aqua." He cried, his eyes snapping open and staring widely at Mickey. "You know who these memories are coming from, don't you?"

"Yes. You are after all his exact image. Not a single feature is different. Probably because Sora looks so much like him." Mickey nodded, smiling up at the blond. "Your heart has been missing for eleven years. That means that you are also his soul, not a piece of Sora's like Namine is to Kairi, as the heart and soul left their body together. Only your body comes from Sora. You have no idea how happy I am to see you are safe Ven."

"Ven? As in Ventus?" Roxas asked, the name ringing a bell. Grinning, Mickey just nodded in response.

"So Roxas is basically the love child of Sora and a boy named Ventus?" Rai couldn't resist, smirking at the incredulous looks on most people's faces and the blushing, stuttering Sora. "What, half of him is from Sora and half is from Ventus. That's the same as any child from their parents."

"You don't have to put it that way." Sora muttered embarrassedly while Jake smirked and Kairi giggled.

"So should we start calling you Ventus?" Kim asked, looking curiously at the blond. "That is apparently your true name."

"Only as much as Sora is." Roxas shook his head, trying to get a grasp over everything he'd been told. "Like Rai commented, I'm a mixture of the two. I'm both of them, but at the same time, I'm different from them. So I think I'll stick to Roxas."

"Ok, his name has been decided." Namine stated, effectively ending the topic before turning to Sora. "So the question is, are you going to confirm or calm? Roxas' fears about how you feel about him?"

Roxas got a little nervous again as Sora turned to him. With the conversation change, Roxas had almost forgotten that he still needed Sora's opinion of his right to existence.

However, it proved unnecessary. Looking him right in the eye, Sora offered him the brightest smile he was capable of and raised his hand.

"I'm fine with you hanging around the way you are. This could be cool, having a twin." For a moment, Roxas just stared at him, not sure if he heard him right before a huge smile grew on his face. Taking the offered hand, he pulled a startled Sora to him and hugged him as tightly as he could. A little surprised, Sora just chuckled and went with it, hugging the blond back.

"You do realise that if what you said is true, eventually Roxas will have to go in order to restore two people right?" Riku asked softly, just loud enough for Mickey to hear him.

"Yes, but Sora can function perfectly fine without the part of him Roxas has and he has Ven's consciousness. It's only an extra body lying around that I don't know how to find anyway. Until I do, this situation is the best that it can be for Ven. He isn't lying dormant, trapped in the heart of another like he has been for over a decade."

"Alright." Riku sighed, nodding his head. Smiling at the slightly guilty looking boy, Mickey cleared his throat, returning everyone's attention to him.

"Alright everyone, now that everything with our blond allies is settled, it's time to get down to business. But first, would you guys mind giving us your names?" He asked, looking from Wade on the far side of the room all the way to Rai, standing close to him. "You know ours, but we haven't heard yours yet."

"I'm Kim Possible. Or KP on the battlefield." Kim stated.

"I'm Jake Long. Also known as the American Dragon." Jake nodded to each Keybearer, Donald and Goofy.

"I'm Raimundo Pedrosa. I also go by Wudai Warrior." Rai shrugged.

"You guys do super hero names?" Riku asked with a smirk, ignoring the glares he was being given.

"Hey, leave them alone Riku. I think it's pretty cool." Sora exclaimed, elbowing his friend.

"For your information, many Guardians' 'super hero' names are titles or statures." Roxas snapped. "For example, Wudai Warrior is a rank in the ladder to becoming a full-fledged Xiaolin Dragon in the Xiaolin Order and American Dragon is a title given to the high dragon of the country. In America's case, as you need to be born in that country to become the high dragon, Jake is the first. Don't think for a second that you can disrespect those names."

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry." Riku cried, waving up his hands in surrender. "I didn't know they were sacred or important titles or anything. I'll shut up."

"Good." Kim said rudely before turning back to the mouse. "Is there anything you can tell us that might help us fight Maleficent?"

"Yes. She has come here because she discovered that this world, being the heart of the original world, is the home of Kingdom Hearts. This world's heart is the source of power for every other world's heart and finding the keyhole, or portal, to it in this world is the only way to unleash its full power. She and her allies all intend to use the Heartless to find it and cripple any aggressive force left in your world and then open it. They will then take in as much power as they can hold without destroying themselves and unleash the rest to plunge all of the worlds in darkness and destruction so they can recreate every world under their rule."

"Who are these allies?" Jake asked, crossing his arms. "We've only seen Maleficent and the Heartless running around."

"One is Captain Hook." Sora started, all his excitement and curiosity gone and replaced with a seriousness the Guardians were used to seeing on Roxas. "He isn't too tough, just your average pirate captain. Although, that does make him viscous and bloodthirsty. Another is called Oogie Boogie. Again, he's not very tough, but tends to make it very hard to hit him while he's always free to strike you. You'll know when you see him, he's literally a walking sack of bugs with a ghoulish face."

"The next one is Ursula." Riku continued. "She looks like the cross between a pudgy woman and an octopus. She has a tendency to rely on magic in battle. She also has a cat man running around named Pete, but he's a bit dull and a bumbler. He shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"But the next three are much worse." Goofy said firmly, surprising Kim, Jake and Rai with the intensity of his previously relaxed, goofy voice. "One of 'em is call Jafar. He's an evil genie with an enormous amount of power. In genie form he's big and red, you can't miss him, but he's usually in his old human form. He'll be the shady guy in red robes with a cobra staff."

"The other ally is Hades, the Lord of the Dead." Donald continued, not noticing everyone native to this world tense in recognition. "He's an evil God who's almost unstoppable. He particularly enjoys controlling people's minds to make them do his bidding, teleporting and throwing fire. You won't miss him, he's the guy with grey skin in a toga with blue fire for hair."

"And here even I thought Hades was just a legend." Jake muttered, paling at the thought of fighting someone who stood out from a legend full of powerful Gods. "That guy, a genie and endless Heartless? How are we supposed to win?"

"I don't know. Not now that they're all together. Fighting many of them one at a time is challenging enough." Mickey sighed, his ears drooping. "Maleficent is the last one of the three Goofy mentioned. As you may have seen, she is a master of dark magic and extremely powerful. We're going to need a miracle for this one."

"Or maybe just more allies." Namine muttered, frowning in thought. Coming to a decision, she pulled out her V com and typed away on the console. Looking satisfied, she turned back to the group, her eyes filled with the same determined look Gohan wore when he was about to initiate a battle plan. "I'm going to the Fentons to tell them to find as many of Danny's friends in the ghost zone as they can to join the fight against the Heartless and then I'll get Ryo to join us. You guys stay here and try to find where Maleficent has taken the others. Considering that Maleficent likes her bases to strike fear in everyone in the world, it won't be hidden. It should actually be really easy to find. When you do, we'll sneak in, save the others and then worry about the big honchos."

"Sounds like the best course of action." Rai nodded before turning to a seemingly empty chair. "Are you gonna fight with us Dojo?"

"You bet Raimundo. No more sitting on the sidelines for me." Dojo cried, pulling a fierce pose. "That witch is gonna pay for what she did to the temple."

"Oh, how cute." Kairi squealed, unable to help herself as she walked over and picked Dojo up. "A mini dragon."

"He reminds me a lot of Mushu. Only this one's green...and got no legs." Sora commented, looking over Kairi's shoulder.

"Sure...rub it in." Dojo responded sarcastically, crossing his arms moodily and drawing chuckles from everyone with his pouting face, despite the situation. Grinning herself, Namine created a portal and prepared to walk through it.

"Wait Namine." Mickey called, stopping her just as she put one foot through the light. "It'll be very dangerous out there. Take Donald and Goofy with you. They won't attract nearly as many Heartless as some of us will and they'll be more than enough assistance for what you do come across."

"Alright. Let's go boys." Namine nodded, offering the captain and magician a smile as they followed her through, the portal closing behind them a second later.

"You know something? Namine was right." Bulma called, gathering everyone's attention and leaving them startled as she and Wade typed away at the consoles like they were possessed. No one had even noticed them returning to the equipment. "Maleficent is basically demanding that we know where she is. A huge area in the Amazon Rainforest has been enshrouded in darkness that's expanding over the sky at an alarming rate. And right in the middle of it is what looks like a Pyramid standing in the centre of a wasteland."

"Like the Amazon wasn't facing enough destruction without her help." Wade growled, bringing up the exact coordinates of the Pyramid on one screen while Bulma ran a few calculations over the spreading dark veil on the main monitor.

"At this rate, within forty eight hours, the sun will be completely blocked out worldwide." Bulma cried, redoing the calculations again only to get the same result.

"This has got to be a trap." Rai stated, glaring at the aerial visual of the pyramid. "She might as well have put up a giant neon sign saying 'I'm here and it's a trap' over the thing."

"Not really." Mickey disagreed, shaking his head. "She'll make moving around that thing difficult, but making it easy to find is her way of saying that she is superior. It brings fear into everyone because not only is a great and powerful evil witch there, but she's so powerful that she can't be stopped by anyone."

"Make people give up by making it so clear that they can't win. That has to be either the most courageous or stupidest plan anyone's ever use." Kim muttered. "But then, with four of us captured and all her buddies around, who's still here that could possibly make her feel any fear of failure?"

"Especially with the Heartless around." Sora muttered, rubbing his chin in thought before turning to Wade. "Can we get a closer shot of this place?"

"Nope. There's no cameras in the area we're barely able to get this through satellites." Wade sighed, shaking his head.

"Then we need to scope the place out." Kairi said hesitantly, looking to Sora and Riku for support. "We have to go there and see just how many Heartless Maleficent has protecting the place or at least those outside, and what types."

"And any other traps." Jake nodded.

"You guys do realise just how dangerous that is right?" Dojo cried, scared and waving his hands around. "One false move and they'll kill you before you can even protect yourselves."

"The dragon's right." Mickey nodded sadly. "But we still need to know what's there. After Maleficent and her group are defeated, the Heartless should fall quickly, but as long as she's here, this world will never come close to safe. So I say that we scout the place, but only a select few will go."

"Who did you have in mind?" Roxas asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Those of us that won't stand out light a white house on a dark night." Mickey answered. "Roxas and Kairi have the strongest lights of everyone here by far, so they can't go. The Heartless will see them within one second in such a dark place. Sora and I aren't much better. Riku however, has the best chance of blending in, wielding so much dark magic himself."

"I'm game." Riku nodded.

"But he can't go alone." Raimundo argued, taking a step forward. "I'll go with him. I've been called dark and shady plenty of times. Of all of the Guardians, I have the best chance of blending into the powers of darkness."

"I'll go too." Kim stated firmly, making sure that the finality in her words was crystal clear.

"Ok then. The rest of us will wait here for Namine and Ryo to get back and for you guys to report." Jake nodded, looking firmly at each of the volunteers. "Be careful guys. Don't do anything reckless. Observe and get out."

"Wow. I'd expect that from Rox, but I didn't know you could be that serious Jake." Rai grinned as he and Riku followed Kim towards the hanger. "But don't worry partner, you'll get me back in one piece." Though none of them said it, everyone watching a few minutes later as the ship flew towards the darkening Earth desperately hoped that Rai was right.

...

It had taken some time, but Maleficent had finally calmed down from the getaway of her enemies. It had annoyed her considerably that the only time that the Keybearers failed was when she was banking on them, but a quick look at her captives and what was happening to the rest of the world was more than enough to put her at ease.

Looking through portal after portal, Maleficent's dark smile grew as great as it had been before. Though strangely, the Heartless weren't managing to steal anywhere near as many hearts and multiplying as fast as they did in other worlds, they had still brought every military power crashing to its knees and were taking control of almost every town and city. The towns playing home to metahumans were still going strong with their resistance, but Maleficent was sure that they'd tire and falter in the end. With the rebellion diminished, the Heartless were covering ground even faster as time went on. It wouldn't be long before they found what she seeked.

"Enjoying the show tall, dark and malevolent?" A teasing voice asked, drawing her attention from the portals. She'd never noticed Hades walk in, an interesting feat of the God considering his head heated up the temperature wherever he went.

"Why yes, I am. The plan is progressing quickly as expected, but I am more than a little intrigued as to why so few new Heartless are being created. Though we are winning, it seems that more are being destroyed then their replacements are being born."

"That's because these people seem used to one form of creepy or another invading their area." Hades responded amusedly. "Plus, a lot of the living have powers helping them and those around them survive the attack, though only around half have enough to actually do any damage to our forces. Give it a few days and the Heartless' ranks will skyrocket."

"Yes, I suppose you're right." Maleficent nodded, making the portals disappear with a wave of her hand. "And if not, when Kingdom Hearts' power is unleashed, they'll all be destroyed anyway. Or I could spare them and turn them into our slaves, hahahaha!"

"Hmm, yeah, but speaking of destruction, why haven't you destroyed the captured brats yet?" Hades asked, staring uncaringly at his nails. "You said it yourself that they're too good to make strong Heartless, but they're also too powerful to be given a chance at freedom, so why are they still breathing?"

"Partly as bait for the Keybearers and the other heroes of this world." Maleficent replied smoothly, a cruel grin growing on her face. "But also so we may steal their powers when the powers of Darkness are strong enough in this world to call on for the ritual. After all, Kingdom Hearts' power with only make us stronger, not give us new abilities, and I for one would like the strength and Ki powers of the tailed one. Doesn't one of them have a power that you'd be interested in?"

"Well, from what you've told me of them, the ghost boy's powers could be interesting." Hades admitted with a smirk. "After all, the Lord of the Dead should be able to turn invisible and walk through walls if his subjects slash slaves can. And if I could wail like him, wow!"

The two just stood there for a moment, cackling to each other. Maleficent knew that he'd see it her way. After all, evil knows evil, and evil will always look for a way to have more advantages over their adversaries. They could never get enough power.


	6. The Dark Fortress

**AN:** And it's alive! Sorry about the long wait, I lost my motivation for this story for a little while.

I wanna thank the people who have reviewed recently. Normally I wait until the end of the story to do that, but I'm gonna say it now because they've had a major impact. This story has changed drastically already from what I'd originally planned and I'm altering it again based on what the reviews said. The new ideas have altered the course of my plans for much of the future installments and made this story more interesting for me, so again I'll say thank you for both the kind words and the constructive criticism.

* * *

><p><strong>The Dark Fortress<strong>

Not a word was spoken as the trio left the ship. Staying low and moving as quietly as they could, they crept through the trees, their eyes forever scanning around for Heartless.

Riku in particular only grew more tense as they moved on uninterrupted, though it was clear to the others why. It was unusual and very suspicious that they'd gotten so close completely undetected. It wasn't like any bad guy to be this sloppy. Even Jack Spicer noticed them eventually when he had the home field advantage and he wasn't even a speck when compared to Maleficent.

"I don't like this." Riku muttered as he pulled a branch out of his way. "I was hoping not to get overwhelmed before we reached the place, but I was expecting a few Heartless to attack us by now."

"Let's just count our blessings and pray it isn't a trap." Kim responded, coming up right beside him as they pushed through a bush. "With a little luck, we may be able to get what we need and- whoa!"

With one look beyond the bush, Kim sunk right back into it, gaping at what she saw, Riku looking more or less the same beside her. A transparent dome of energy covered the entire wasteland, making it impossible for them to enter. But what really sent butterflies to their stomachs was the sheer number of Heartless surrounding the place. It was like the Nobodies' castle all over again. It looked like the ground itself was moving as monkey shaped Heartless jumped and ran in all directions. Amongst them were a number of centaur like Heartless as well, seeming to be leading groups of monkeys from place to place and at the Pyramid entrances was five Defenders, their giant, dog headed shields creating a semi-circle around the door.

"Well, this is a picture right out of a nightmare." Kim muttered softly, shrinking further back as more monkey Heartless turned their way.

"It get worse." Rai whispered, dropping down next to them from a high tree branch he'd been watching from. "There are an unknown number of dragon or wyvern looking creeps soaring around the sky. Their dark colouring is helping them blend in."

"Does this world even know the meaning of the term 'good news'?" Riku grumbled, sinking further back as a few monkeys moved closer to the wasteland's edge.

"Yeah, at the end of the day we win." Rai responded lightly, unable to help himself. "And we always end up winning."

"Let's not get too cocky." Kim said softly, before Riku could retort. "These guys captured all of our greatest powerhouses and the bulk of our joined groups draw these Heartless in like moths to a flame. This isn't going to be easy."

"Wow, I never thought I'd see the day when Kim's exercising caution." Rai smirked teasingly.

"Can we focus here?" Riku snapped, a vein growing on his forehead. "In case you're forgetting, your friends are captured and your world's being taken over faster than any I've ever seen by-"

"The same creatures of darkness your voice just attracted." Kim butted in, gritting her teeth as a horde of monkeys turned their way and charged.

"CRAP!" Riku shouted, raising his arm. With a flash of dark energy, Way To Dawn appeared in his hand. "Get ready."

"Are you nuts? We can't fight all of that by ourselves." Kim cried exasperatedly. "We gotta move."

"No, we have to stop them before this gets any worse." Riku snapped, throwing a ball of dark energy from the tip of his blade as a couple of Heartless reached them, blowing them apart. "We'll never get away if we run, they'll pop up everywhere. We might as well just fight them here and now."

"Don't be a FOOL!" Kim shouted angrily, only for him to ignore her. Growling, not in the mood for this, she grabbed him by the ear.

"OOWW!"

"If you wanna die so badly, do it on your own time." Kim snapped, pulling out her hairdryer. Switching her grip on Riku, she fired her grappling hook at a far tree and retracted it, flying towards where it landed. "Wudai!"

"You got it." Rai replied, throwing his hands to his sides as the army moved in close. Typhoon Boom, Wind!" The resulting wave of wind of his clapping hands couldn't have done a better job. It slammed right into countless Heartless, blowing all of them a good distance back and into the second wave. Looking quite proud of himself, Rai wasted only a second watching his handy work before leaping from tree branch to tree branch after the others.

"That won't keep them off us for long." Riku grumbled, irritated, but giving in and following as Kim ran back towards the ship anyway. "We'll have plenty jumping up out of the ground at any second."

"I'm more worried about- THAT!" Kim cried, her eyes widening in panic before her reflexes kicked in and leapt into a back flip just as a monkey Heartless swung off a branch right at her. Her feet catching it under the armpits as it neared the ground, she carried it through and swung it headfirst into a tree. Not giving it the time to get up, Riku charged and swung his Keyblade, destroying it instantly. "We're facing an army mostly made up of monkeys in the rainforest. They have the home field advantage."

"Suddenly I miss Monkey Jack and his green monkey army." Rai muttered as the trees rustled. Picking up his pace as they ran, he looked up at the branches and glared as flashes of darkness burst forth in every direction. They were surrounded by evil acrobats with tails in the world's greatest jungle gym. "I hate to say it, but Riku was right. There's no way to escape them now. We're just leading them to our ship."

"Which means we have to fight." Riku stated, readying his blade as three more monkeys leapt their way, hands and feet poised to strike.

"Well, at least here the wyverns will have trouble." Rai muttered, dropping into a defensive stance as Kim shifted into an offensive one.

"Kim!" Rai called, tossing a blue and black item her way before sliding around an attacker and tossing it into another. Catching the item, Kim grinned as her eyes focused on the blue ball. It was surrounded by three rings and sat on a handle. Rai had told her about this Shang Gong Wu when she noticed him taking it to his room. It was perfect for this.

"Shard of Lightning!" She cried, raising it into the air. Time seemed to have stopped as the orb flashed with electricity, leaving a smirking Kim the only one seeming to be moving. Knowing she didn't have long before it ended, she used her grappling hook and swung into the trees, throwing the most brutal blows into every Heartless she came across.

"How the heck did she do that?" Riku cried, destroying a monkey with a vertical slash before spinning and beheading another dropping down towards his back. jumping back into a midair flip as three more swung his way, his eyes just managed to catch the flash of lightning before Kim was moving too fast for him to see again.

"Blade of the Nebula!" Rai shouted, swinging his blade and landing a brutal blow to a good five monkeys and a wyvern Heartless as it turned into a huge wind nunchuck. "I tossed her a magical artefact. Anyone touching it when its power's activated can move as fast as lightning for a very short period of time."

Coming back down to normal speed for the second time, Kim wrapped her legs around a monkey's neck and flung it head first into a tree before moving on to deliver an uppercut to another monkey in mid jump, sending them both plummeting to the ground and sliced right through with one swing of Riku's blade before they made it.

"That time stopping speed's good, but you're not really doing anymore than knocking these things down." Riku called, jumping back as a wyvern swooped him. Kicking off a tree trunk with both feet, he slashed its wing right off, leaving it to blow up in a burst of darkness as it crashed into the ground.

"Grr, he's right." Kim frowned, using the tree branches as uneven bars to swing away from two attacking monkeys and kick a third. Righting herself on a branch, she pulled out and uncapped what looked like lipstick, aimed the end at an approaching monkey and fired a red laser, blasting the Heartless into a tree. It resisted and writhed for a few seconds, but ultimately the laser pierced right through it and destroyed it. "Even with its power level enhanced, that took too long." She muttered, biting her lip as she leaped and swung from a vine as more Heartless came her way.

"Wudai Star Wind!" Positioning himself clear of all tree branches, Rai flung his arms up and released a fierce tornado, sucking in and entrapping every Heartless in the area and crashing them into each other at break neck speeds as they rose into the air and destroying them. "There's a lot of them, but they aren't so tough individually."

"To you may- argh!" Kim cried as a monkey's foot crashed into her shoulder mid swing, sending her plummeting toward the ground.

Not missing a beat, Rai shot right up and caught her by her good arm before swinging his body around and delivering a brutal kick into the chasing monkey's head.

"This isn't stopping!" Riku scowled, delivering a diagonal slash to a wyvern before spinning his whole body with a horizontal strike, cutting down three monkeys surrounding him. "Unless you guys have some secret, enormous power artefact I don't know about, we're going to be joining the dark ranks in just a few minutes."

"I'm afraid not." Rai grunted as he landed back on the ground, back to back with Kim as more and more monkeys leaped their way. "The more power we brought, the likely we'd be noticed, so I left just about everything back on Valour's Light."

"Well, wasn't that a great idea." Riku retorted sarcastically, gritting his teeth as more monkeys appeared with bursts of darkness from the ground.

"We'll just need to call in reinforcements." Kim responded, grabbing a monkey by the neck as it leaped at Rai's head and tossed it into its allies before ducking Rai's leg as it spun around and crashed into a wyvern swooping down on her.

"Right. WIND!" Raimundo screamed, throwing his hands into the air. The wind immediately picked up around them as Riku joined their side and created a whirlwind, blowing every Heartless near them back into the trees and bushes. "Hurry Kim, I won't be able to hold this up for too long. I'm tired as it is."

Kim just whipped out her V com and turned it on, ignoring a wyvern flying right into her face before being blown right out past the tree line and into the sky.

"KP to Valour's Light! We need help, NOW!"

...

"Aurgh!" Gwen groaned, clenching her eyes tightly shut as consciousness returned to her and with it, the sensation of pain in her entire body. The next thing she noticed as the mothballs cleared from her head was that she was chained to a wall with glowing black shackles. Closing her eyes again, she focused on them and found a strong, dark magic surrounding them. from what her senses could tell her, it was there to neutralise any escape attempts by magic. "So I'm stuck. And so are Ben and...Gohan?" She cried, her gut clenching in fear as her eyes found the unconscious and heavily wounded Saiyan beside her cousin. He was still losing a bit of blood, though the wounds were clotting. Seeing him like this, captured and brutalised, left Gwen with a very deep seated fear. He was easily the most powerful of them all, if Maleficent could do that to him...however, her protective instinct quickly overlapped her fear and instantly replaced it with a boiling rage.

"When I get my hands on that witch, I'll-"

"Gwen? Is that you?" Gwen's eyes widened as Danny's distorted voice met her ears.

"Danny? Where are you?" She asked with a frown, looking from one side of the room to the other and still not finding the ghost boy.

"I'm in the thermos. And my leg's fallen asleep!" He responded, whining like a child. Following his voice, Gwen looked down to find the Fentons' ghost catching coffee thermos lying at her feet and would have hit herself for not sensing him there in the first place if she could have moved her arms. "I need you to get me out."

"But I can't move my hands." Gwen muttered, biting her lip, trying to find a solution. There was no magic on the thermos, so a spell would work, but she wasn't sure if she could pull it off. The shackles around her wrists made her own escape, and that of Ben and Gohan, impossible with magic, that much was for certain, and the same magic existed at a lesser degree on the walls and floor around her. It may stop her from using her power all together. She didn't think it was likely to mess with a spell on the thermos, but she didn't know anything about Maleficent's magic, so she couldn't be sure. For all she new, trying to cast any spell could result with her painful death.

"Well, I gotta try." She muttered, tensing as she focused all of her concentration on the thermos. "Danny, this might hurt you a little. Terra Tremo Eradico!"

She sighed in relief as the telltale blue glow appeared around the thermos, a sign that her magic wasn't blocked, before it exploded.

"OW!" Danny's scream reverberated around the walls as his ectoplasm returned to its normal size and shape. "That stung. Now where are we?" He asked, staring around the dark, depressing chamber. "Ben! Gohan! Oh man, how did this happen?"

"This place is the lair of a dark sorceress commanding the Heartless." Gwen responded hastily, only to gasp a second later as two magical signatures crossed her senses. Danny looked on worriedly as her face filled with dread. One of them was definitely Maleficent. The other was just as dark and magically strong, but it felt like there was something suppressing his magic. A false form maybe? But whatever it was, she knew that he was far stronger than he appeared and with her arms restrained, she couldn't help Danny much at all.

"Danny, get out of here now! Two really powerful people are heading our way." She cried desperately. "Hurry!"

"But what about you guys?" He cried, grabbing Ben and turning both of them intangible. He growled as the magic on the shackles resisted his attempts, sending painful pulses up his arms all the way to his shoulders, but sighed as he managed to pull Ben free and against his chest a moment later.

"There's no time. Take Ben and GO!" She yelled panickedly, her eyes wide with fear as the door burst open to reveal an irritated man dressed in strange red and black robes and an enraged Maleficent.

"Don't let them get away!" Maleficent screeched, raising her glowing staff and aiming and firing a beam right at Ben's back. Jafar didn't need to be told twice, he raised his hand and aimed a blast of red, dancing energy for Danny's head.

"Thrasius!" With Gwen's call, a blue, crystalline shield surrounded the wide eyed Danny, leaving him sighing in relief as the opposing blasts were deflected randomly around the room and crashed into walls. The resulting explosions and crashing debris was more than enough to distract Maleficent and Jafar.

"Danny GO!" Gwen screamed, her voice demanding, leaving no room for argument. "Find the others and stop them. If you stay for us, you and Ben will just be captured again!"

Biting his lip, Danny stared at Gwen and Gohan sorrowfully before turning Ben and himself intangible again and phasing through the floor.

"NO!" Maleficent screamed, throwing a green flamethrower only to scream in pure rage as Danny disappeared completely before it hit. "Heartless! FIND THEM!" she screeched, dark green and black energy whipping around her as flickers of darkness shot through the area. "They will not escape!"

"Oh, but they will." Gwen smirked, further enraging her dark counterpart. "You miscalculated our abilities, that much is clear. They would never have gotten this far already if you hadn't. I promise you now that by the time you can pin Danny down again, he will have already reunited with our allies and Ben will have awakened. They will be too much for your forces."

"You are a tricky little witch, aren't you?" Maleficent snarled, her rage bringing fire to her eyes as she glared at Gwen. "You're right. I thought you'd need your hands to use your magic, but that clearly isn't the case. So I'll just have to ensure that you can never cast a spell again."

Gwen gulped as Maleficent's staff came down, the sphere on the end only inches away from her chest. She had a feeling that she'd played her part in this a bit too well.

"Inseria Disperia!" Gwen cried right as Maleficent muttered her own spell. The sickly green magic coming from the staff glowed blue for a second before exploding back at Maleficent.

"ARGH!" Winded as the raw power slammed into her body, Maleficent was thrown right back into the far wall.

"The magic on these shackles makes magic channeled from my hands and any magic used on them useless right? Fine, I'll just use spells that can be channeled through sight." Gwen smirked, her eyes starting to glow again.

"No you won't!" Maleficent spat venomously, whipping up her staff and firing again. Gwen's eyes snapped wide in fear as the blast came at her, unable to stop it before it struck, leaving her screaming as it encased her entire form.

"AA-AAAHH! No." She gasped in horror as she felt it. Her magic was being drawn from her being. However, this time was different from what Zarlak did. It felt like her magical essence itself was slipping away. Her anxiety only grew as strands of blue magic were released from her body, gathering and swirling in a cackling Maleficent's outstretched hand. By the time the strands ceased, Gwen felt completely spent and empty, barely able to keep her eyes open as her head sag. Whimpering, she tried to fight the darkness consuming her and forced herself to look up at Maleficent just as the last of the strands of magic made it to her hand. The swirling mass shined brightly for a moment before solidifying into a sapphire crystal. "My...magic..."

"Gone forever." Maleficent sneered, holding the crystal before her face tauntingly before placing it in her robes. "Everything magical about you has been taken away."

"Then she has become redundant." Jafar stated gleefully, aiming his cobra staff at her. "We may as well destroy her now."

"NO!" Maleficent snapped, disarming Jafar with a sharp, green blast to his hand, getting an infuriated hiss sent her way. "I want her to see how this all ends. See her cousin and friends as the hope vanishes from their eyes when their powers are gone and the light when they die. I want her there for every moment of it. I want her begging for death before it is granted to her. A fitting punishment for the trouble she has caused. Watching her world end, despite her attempts, and completely powerless to stop it."

"It won't...happen." Gwen whimpered, gathering all her strength to smirk at the dark sorceress. "My plan's already succeeded."

"You're still here brat. And completely powerless." Jafar sneered, summoning his staff back to his hand as he bent down and got right up in Gwen's face. "I'd say you lost."

"Fool." Gwen retorted as smugly as she could as her eyes started to close. "I freed Danny and told him to escape alone. Then I distracted you two. The Heartless alone won't get him and he improved the plan by...saving Ben too. I don't care what you do to me. The others will stop you." Her voice faded out as her vision faded to black. She had just enough time to grin proudly as Maleficent and Jafar swore at her revelation before she completely lost consciousness.

...

_Ok, so down's not working._ Danny thought dryly, swerving as a pair of Heartless looking like bats with hooks tried to attack. So far he'd phased down through three floors and immediately bombarded with Heartless. The bats, giant bluish ones that looked like bowling balls with limbs, mummies and pirate looking creatures were coming by the bucket load. _And because they're the embodiment of darkness and magic, they can touch me even when I'm intangible. I gotta get Ben out of here before they kill us._

Giving up on going underground, as was his original plan, he adjusted Ben in his arms so he was carrying him bridal style and created a clone that fired an ice beam and froze every bat coming his way while he phased through the wall, the clone following second later.

"What be this?" A gruff, startled voice cried as they passed into the next room. Looking down, Danny nearly stopped as he gaped at a man in an old fashioned pirate outfit, hook and all. He didn't look even slightly intimidating, yet he had been sipping a cup of tea that now lay in shattered pieces on the ground in the heart of a Heartless army.

"How did you...three? ESCAPE?" He cried, slightly confused and very nervous as he jumped to his feet, pulling out a very old fashioned gun from his coat.

"Oh please." Danny deadpanned, pointing one finger at the man and blasting the gun across the room while his clone shot an ecto beam at the arriving Heartless. "You actually think that would work on a ghost?"

"G-g-g-GHOST?" Captain Hook screamed, turning chalk white as he backed up into a corner. "HEARTLESS! DESTROY THEM!"

"What. A. Loser." The clone droned as more and more Heartless appeared, mostly shadows and pirates. The clone instantly retaliated, throwing ectoplasmic energy balls all around the room while the real Danny flew Ben towards the wall, only to wrench himself back in fright as what looked like twenty puddles of pure darkness moved animatedly all over it before rising into clawing Shadows.

"That's a problem. They're blocking me off." He cried, coating his foot with ecto energy and firing snap kick after snap kick as the Shadows lunged at him. Giving up on exiting through that wall, he turned to another only to flinch as a Shadow jumped right into his face, only dodging it by leaning back into a loop.

"They're everywhere." The clone growled, throwing a ball twice the size of his head into the middle of the room, destroying a good chunk of Heartless and leaving Hook screaming as he ran to a corner. However, more quickly took their place. With the puddles scaling the walls and ceiling and the pirates running around the floor, the entire room seemed to be almost made of rippling darkness. "All I'm doing is making room for more to show up."

"Then...I'll just make it so no more can." Danny responded, an idea crossing his mind. Having his clone take Ben and float beneath him, he summoned icy blue energy to his hands and raised them to his chest as he started spinning.

_I really hope this works._ He thought nervously as the energy wisped around him like streams of water, freezing Shadows as they lunged from the ceiling in solid ice. Raising both hands above his head, he gathered all the icy power surrounding him into what actually looked like swirling water before swinging his arms down and out to his sides.

"HHAAAA!" The liquid like power burst forth and created a whirlpool around him before spreading explosively out to the four corners of the room, instantly freezing every Heartless within, along with Captain Hook.

"That oughta buy us some time." He smirked, taking a stirring Ben back from his clone. "Now if you would be so kind as too b..." He started, only to stop as a thought crossed his mind. Though they were escaping now, sooner or later they had to come back and the bad guys would be ready. With the little knowledge he had on the layout of the building and the villains expecting them, they wouldn't stand a chance of saving Gohan and Gwen or winning the fight. However, if they had someone on the inside...

"Haven't done this in a while." He commented, smirking down at Hook, his face frozen mid scream. The clone didn't even wait for an explanation before dropping towards him. Turning intangible, it phased right through the ice and into Hook. The pathetic Villain's eyes flashed an eerie green for a moment, but they quickly returned to normal, a bonus Danny attributed to his advancing powers.

"Wh-what's going on?" Ben groaned groggily, his eyes opening into slits. "Where am I?"

"Good question. I'll clear all the details later." Danny stated, tensing as familiar screaming voices and echoing footsteps hit his ears before flying right at the frozen, Heartless covered wall again. "Just as soon as I assure that there is a later." One hand letting go of Ben, he fired an ecto beam right at the wall and blew a large hole right through it. Smiling at the sight of the open, though creepy, sky on the other side, he flew straight through at top speed just as what looked like a giant sack stormed through the


	7. The Ghostly Enigma

**The Ghostly Enigma**

With Bulma and Wade keeping a vidual over the others and being unable to help the collapsing world at the moment, the young heroes had quickly left the bridge. Mickey was determined to monitor everything and try to find some hidden weakness, but the teens could find nothing but dread in watching the horrible events, helpless to stop them, so Jake and Roxas led the others to the lounging area and flopped down on the couches. Staring at the world coming apart was only going to increase their anxiety and relaxing and gathering their strength for later sounded like a much better plan.

Not that their anxiety disappeared at all. All four of them were tense, biting their lips or twiddling their fingers nervously as they stared at the ground or the walls.

However, it was clear to Kairi the most nervous one of them was Roxas, and it was just as clear why. She wasn't sure what she felt more, sympathy or amusement. The poor guy had been through more than anyone else on the satellite today by far, from his fight with Maleficent, Riku, and finding out that his existence wasn't entirely what he'd believed it was, that he was basically a mix and match creature of two different people. But all of it paled in comparison to his nervousness over Sora.

_And of course the lazy bum's oblivious._ Kairi thought, smiling at Sora's childlike face as he listened to Jake talking about all the magical creatures he'd seen, a conversation Sora started up to take their minds off the disaster planet side. Roxas looked a little disappointed before turning a jealous look at his Chinese friend. _He wants Sora's attention, but he's too shy and nervous to make the first move._ She noted, intrigued by the fact. Sora was a very confident, outspoken individual. It was strange that his Nobody could be so shy. _Maybe he got it from that Ventus character?_ She wondered before shaking her head. _Either way, he could use a little bit of help._

"So Roxas, tells us a little about yourself." She called, cutting right through Jake's explanation of manticores and startling the blonde. "I noticed that you have a bit more aggression than Sora when you're angry, yet you also seem shy and soft spoken. I'm curious as to what other differences and what similarities you have with him." She smiled encouragingly, flicking her eyes at Sora for a second with a firm look, making sure he knew to pay attention. She needn't have worried though, Sora was already staring at his blond double curiously.

Seeing his other's attention focused solely on him, Roxas wasn't sure if he was more excited or nervous. However, Kairi's encouraging smile and his own desire to talk to Sora quickly forced down his urge of flight. Kairi was trying to help him, he wasn't wasting his chance. If he did it right, maybe Sora would talk to him too.

"According to the few memories I have of Sora's life, and what Namine's said, my personality is mostly made up of the parts Sora usually represses." He started slowly and carefully, thinking what he was going to say through so it (hopefully) wouldn't come out insulting. "While Sora got the title 'lazy bum' from you Kairi, the others called me a workaholic, at least back when we first formed the Guardians. I'm pretty shy and reserved most of the time and a little more selfish than Sora. While he's out thinking solely about other people, I've been thinking about having a normal life. Rai and Ben got me into playing soccer and I like reading a good book when I can. After that though, I am a bit like Sora. I fight to protect people, I love spending time with my friends and I'll willingly die for them if I have to."

"You're a lot more serious than me too." Sora commented, leaving Roxas biting his lip nervously, unable to read the emotions on Sora's nearly blank face. "And obviously smarter, or at least more studious. You can tell from the way you talk." He added, a smile crossing his face and instantly calming Roxas. "But that's all good. I could use a little more brains and it would be kind of weird if we were exactly the same. We'll have to have a good game of soccer when this is all over. And go to the beach too. After all of this, I think we'll ALL be in need of a vacation."

"Yeah, that sounds really good." Roxas grinned, his recurring nerves disappearing completely as Sora beamed at him. _Why was I so hesitant to talk to him again? _He thought, shaking his head at his own paranoia.

"You know, I always wanted a brother." Sora commented cheerfully as he wrapped an arm around Roxas. "But a twin sounds even cooler. You'll have to come to Destiny Islands and meet Mom and Dad. I'd love to see the looks on their faces when they finds out they have another son."

"You kidding? I remember enough about them to know that your...our...whatever, Mom will faint at that news and...Dad will fall into a dim-witted babbling fit." Roxas chuckled, leaning back into Sora's arm, but he almost sagged right off the couch a second later, a slight lethargic sensation hitting him as Sora's fingers made contact with his bare arm.

"Hey, are you ok?" Sora asked, his face turning worried as he readjusted his arms, supporting Roxas by his shoulders.

"Yeah." Roxas replied, slightly confused as he sat back up. The sensation had ended as quickly as it appeared the second Sora's hands had moved. He couldn't explain it. "I just felt drained for a second there."

"You have been through a lot today, physically and mentally." Jake commented concernedly as Sora directed his blonde counterpart into leaning back into the seat. "Maybe you should take this opportunity to get some real rest."

"Jake's right. You can't afford to collapse once everything starts up again." Kairi nodded, biting her lip as she noticed the look flashing in his eyes. She'd seen it plenty of times before. Though his eyes were slightly lighter than Sora's, the mirror image of Sora's stubbornness was unmistakeable.

"Nah, I'm fine now." Roxas shrugged. Frowning, Sora opened his mouth to argue, but at that moment an alarm went off, causing both Sora and Kairi to jump. Jake and Roxas however, gritted their teeth as they jumped to their feet. Kairi had just enough time to see the fear etched on their faces before they took off out of the room so fast her hair was blown into her face.

"Something's really wrong." She mumbled, pulling red strands out of her eyes as she and Sora followed the others back to the bridge.

"We have two groups on the ground. Something must have happened to one of them." Sora responded, his voice shaking in fear. With three of his closest friends out there, his mind had already jumped to the worst case scenario. Not that Kairi was much better off.

"What happened? Are Riku and the others ok?" Kairi asked as she skidded into the bridge a split second before Sora collided with her back. Stumbling, Sora gave Kairi a quick apologetic look as he grabbed her to stabilize themselves before turning to a worried Mickey, Bulma and Wade.

"Kim made an emergency call. They were spotted." Wade answered nervously, brining up every image he could of the fortress and the surrounding area on the monitors.

"WHAT?" Jake shouted, shaking as his face lost all its colouring. Pushing past Wade and Bulma, he scanned every monitor intently, his panic noticeably rising as he looked for any sign of them only to find nothing. He would have gone completely psycho on them if it weren't for the small tornado that burst out through the tree line a minute later, flinging Heartless and crashing them into each other. "What are we waiting for? Roxas, get us there!"

"WAIT!" Mickey shouted right as Roxas nodded, startling everyone into jumping ten feet in the air. "We can't do that. If you do, we'll be drawn into a fight with even more Heartless and no one on our side will be rested enough for what's ahead. Plus, another burst of so much pure light that Roxas' portals are made from will attract the Heartless to us here. We got off lucky when they didn't follow us the last two times, we can't risk it again."

"But a ship would take too long to reach them." Kairi argued, holding back terrified tears as she turned her attention back to the screens. Her body trembled as she noticed the flickers of black appearing and disappearing through the trees. Even if she couldn't make much out through the trees, it was clear that more and more Heartless were appearing and Raimundo's winds were giving out. "They'll be taken in minutes."

"We already called Namine's group and sent them to help." Bulma responded as reassuringly as she could, though it was clear that fear and panic had gripped her too. "She was already noticed by the Heartless, so the attracting issue is of little concern to her now, and between her, Justiman, Donald, Goofy and Kim's team, they shouldn't have too much trouble getting back to their ship and taking off."

"The trick will be destroying any Heartless that get on the ship before it takes off without banging the ship up too much." Dojo added, biting his nails. "If they take too much damage, the trip here might kill them."

"I'm sorry, but is there ANYTHING going our way?" Roxas cried exasperatedly, throwing his head back and his arms into the air.

"Where's your optimism?" Sora asked, playfully pushing Roxas. He never noticed Roxas starting to sag as his finger skimmed over Roxas' elbow, or that the blond almost fell over, despite the little force in the push. "We're here to help you and between our two teams Maleficent doesn't stand a chance."

Mickey however, was frowning as much as Roxas, though for a different reason. Unlike the others, he had seen Roxas' moment of lethargy. But there was more than that. The split second Sora touched him, Roxas' elbow warped slightly, like it was just an image being stretched and reshaped before returning to normal. And when it happened, it felt like something was leaving Roxas while Sora seemed to grow slightly stronger, and what was lost from the blond was replaced by what felt like more of Ventus' energy.

_The part of Roxas that comes from Sora must be responding to him. His body is trying to regain everything that it lost._ He realised, his frown deepening as he checked Roxas' recovering form over. _Roxas' body is trying to replace what it's losing by tapping into more power from Ventus' heart, but it won't be enough in the end. Roxas' body, beyond his heart, is all from Sora and magic can't replace it. This could be very dangerous for him. _

However, before he could voice the problem, a trio of excited cheers came from behind him.

"WHOO! It's a miracle! Maybe we're not all gonna die after all." Dojo yelled joyfully, waving his body around in a cheerful dance.

"That dumb witch is going down." Bulma cheered confidently, pumping a fist into the air. "I'd like to see her stop us now with those two powerhouses rejoining our ranks."

"Oh, thank God they're alright." Jake sighed, a relived smile crossing his face as a surprised, but proud look appeared on Roxas'. Curiosity getting the better of him, Mickey completely forgot about his worries and stared at the screens. A bright smile crossed his own face, as well as Kairi and Sora's, as a pale skinned boy with snow white hair and a black and white jumpsuit carrying another boy with brown hair and clad in swimming trunks flew at an impressive speed away from a hole that appeared to have been blasted open from the inside of the dark fortress wall.

"That's Danny Phantom, a human/ghost hybrid." Roxas informed them, his previous exasperation completely gone. "And he's carrying Ben Ten, a shape shifter capable of turning into nineteen powerful, alien creatures. Singularly, they are two of the most powerful Guardians, even stronger than me, Jake and Rai."

"Sounds like just the kind of help we need." Sora grinned. The reappearance of the two boys definitely had a very positive impression on the gathered do-gooders. Even Mickey and Kairi could feel it. However they had done it, those two had managed to break free of a very dangerous fortress filled with all of the most powerful enemies Sora had ever faced and a near endless supply of Heartless. Warriors of that calibre were exactly what they needed to turn the tide.

...

"Man, there's no end to these things." Danny cried, aggravated as he spun his body avoiding a swooping wyvern. Tightening his grip on the still groggy Ben, he threw himself into a constant motion of bobbing and weaving as wyvern after wyvern Heartless soared right at him, coming from all directions. Banking left, he narrowly avoided the teeth of one only to have to loop backwards to avoid another's tail before making a sudden drop in altitude to avoid the third.

"This would be tricky to avoid under normal circumstances." He complained, grunting as a wing sideswiped his shoulder. "Ben, I NEED you to snap out of it and fly. I'm not good at evasive manoeuvres with a passenger."

"Yeah, I got it." Ben muttered, trying to shake his head clear without irritating his growing headache too much. He didn't bother looking very hard at the Omnitrix as he activated the controls. He was awake, but his headache was messing with his head, so he focused just enough to notice when a winged alien appeared and slapped it down, startling Danny with the green flash and making nearby Heartless recede almost fearfully at the light.

"NANOMECH! Apparently." Danny sweatdropped at the sound of the squeaky voice and looking down, he almost face palmed at his miniscule size, only stopping himself as a Monkey flipped off one of his comrades and launched a punch his way, forcing him to fly up and barrel roll to the left as a Wyvern came down with poised claws on top of him.

"You couldn't pick a better form? How are you gonna fight like that?" He cried, pulling at his hair as he zig-zagged through another two Wyverns and a Monkey. "And how are these monkey creeps getting up this high?"

"You'd be surprised by what I can normally do." Ben responded as he held onto Danny's shirt tightly, though Danny frowned at it. Normally, no matter the form, Ben had a confident bravado clear in his voice, yet this squeaky one sounded feeble, almost sick. "But right now, I can barely focus. My head hurts to much."

"Great, so I'm basically on my own." Danny sighed. His lack of focus cost him, for at that moment, a monkey came out of nowhere and slugged him right in the jaw with such intensity that his body was sent flying back, flipping all the way.

"AUGH! THAT DOES IT!" His eyes burned with glowing green fire as he stabilised himself, his hands following not a second later. A large ectoplasmic energy ball quickly grew in his hand as furious eyes locked onto the descending monkey and with a battle cry worthy of a Viking, he tossed it right at it, instantly destroying the Heartless and sending every other nearby dark creature into the ground hard with an explosive shockwave. However, he wasn't done there.

"You want a fight? I'll give you a fight!" His whole body started glowing green as he glared at the black, moving mass, raising his hands. Unperturbed, another three Wyverns flew right at him only for him throw his palms in their faces and blow them apart with a beam from each. Both blasts continued on and easily took out another four Wyverns before he stopped the attack only to turn his hands towards the ground troops.

Shooting off like a rocket across the sky, he went berserk, releasing blast after blast at the ground with such speed and intensity that even Gohan would be proud, disintegrating Heartless wherever they landed. He kept up until he was halfway to the tree line and only stopped when flashes of movement caught his eye, warning him of the airborne threats. Scowling, he straightened himself up and looked around, evaluating the situation. Seeing he was surrounded, with a number of Heartless in every direction, he created two clones and put their backs together, forming a triangle.

"Let's give them a real show." He smirked as he placed his hands together out before him, ecto energy gathering and shining like a star all around them as the clones did the same. Keeping his eyes in constant motion, carefully watching every one of his enemies, he waited until they were about to converge on him before all three Dannys let loose the most powerful Beams Ben had ever seen him use, decimating every Wyvern in their paths.

However, he wasn't done there. A mere moment after the beams began, Danny and his clones started spinning in a circle while rising and falling in perfect synch. The result was what looked like a giant pinwheel made of light in a strong wind. Every Heartless in Danny's range was completely destroyed.

"Absolutely amazing." Ben squeaked, his high pitch voice coming out even harder to hear than usual as he watched on in awe. The beams were far more intense than Ben had ever seen them and their range had increased too. On top of that, the creatures they were destroying so effortlessly were not normally easy to deal with. For the average person they were unstoppable, but Danny was blowing away countless numbers of them with one attack. "I never knew Danny was so powerful."

However, it soon came to an end. Dizzy and muscles screaming in exhaustion, Danny slowed the pace as he dropped low to the ground, his targets quickly changing from Wyverns to Monkeys. His rotation stopped completely a moment later as his feet hit the ground. Biting his lip at all the Monkeys around him and his growing need to stop his attack, and his clones ripped their hands apart and out to their sides, finishing their blasts with a ring of green energy that lashed out like an explosive shockwave, destroying every Heartless within ten feet of them and flinging many more back.

"Ben...I'm about spent...are you...ready yet?" He gasped between deep breaths, leaning over onto his knees as he frowned at the Heartless. The last wave had bought them some time, but it was quickly running out.

The sound of something cutting through air met Danny's ears at that moment, causing his already pale skin to lose all its remaining colouring as he looked up to find a Wyvern about two seconds away from biting off his head...only for a green, electrical current to fly down its throat. It writhed and spasmed for a few moments before blowing up in wisps of darkness.

"Yeah. I'm good now." Danny could do nothing more than stare wide eyed and slack jawed at Ben as his friend floated beside him, his cocky attitude returning both to his voice and appearance.

"That form is that powerful?" He gaped, forgetting about the Heartless approaching them completely as he watched four cords appear from Ben's back.

"Size isn't everything." He responded cheekily as he fired an electrical blast from each cord, frying the Heartless as they approached. "Anyway, are you still able to go on?"

"Yeah, but there's no way I can face the brunt of it anymore." Danny nodded tiredly, taking a deep breath as he straightened himself. "I won't be able to fight much more before I pass out."

"Then give me a ramp and then follow me. You'll just have to handle the few I miss." Ben said, disappearing in a green flash as he tapped the Omnitrix. "Cannonbolt! Let's bowl."

Getting the gist of it, Danny leaped into the air as Ben's humanoid cannonball form rolled itself up and took off with the speed of a race car.

"Hey Heartless, you look all warmed up, how about we cool you off with a cold snap?" He taunted as his eyes started glowing blue, his hands following a second later. Thrusting them out, he froze a trail of ice right in Ben's path and led it straight to the charging Heartless. Smirking, he raised his hands higher and covered every one he could in ice, using them to create a sound ramp.

Speeding up as he made it to the ice, Ben zoomed right up the ice structure and into the air, ploughing right through a group of diving Wyverns like they were bowling pins, never losing any speed as they crashed into the ground so hard that they blew up. Flying right after him, Danny wait just until Ben seemed to have reach his peak height before gathering as much energy as he was willing to spare into his right palm.

"Sorry if this hurts a little, but it should give you all the speed you need." He Grinned. A second later, he thrust palm at Ben and let loose a point blank, concussive blow, sending Ben back towards the Earth at break neck speed before doing everything he could to keep up.

Not feeling even the slightest bit of pain from the blast, Ben grinned within his shell as he crashed into the ground, flinging and crushing every Heartless that he came across while Danny flew as closely behind as he could, throwing ecto energy balls at any Heartless along their path that Ben had missed.

The plan worked out pretty well. With the major damage Danny had done to their numbers before and the speed they moved at, no attempts the Heartless made even got close to causing any problems for most of the trip. It wasn't until they got very close to the trees that things became problematic.

Despite the impressive display of power, Danny's attacks hadn't reached nearly that far and there was more debris the further they got from the fortress, slowing Ben's pace down. Then, more appeared out of the ground like crazy, in all new forms, floating black balls with red or blue armour, winged bandits and blue, beastlike creatures on four legs with white skull-like heads being the most common.

"Huh? What's going on, they weren't here a few seconds ago?" Danny asked raggedly, losing altitude. It felt like he'd used up the last of his reserves. As much as he hated to admit it, if he didn't land and rest soon he was going to leave Ben hauling his useless, unconscious body for the rest of the escape. And with these creatures looking as strong and numerous as they were, Ben wouldn't stand a chance.

"Maybe they're responding to us." Ben suggested, zig-zagging around a large boulder. "But no matter. They're just bowling pins to me." True to his word, Ben picked up speed and smashed right through them, knocking every ground bound Heartless out of his path.

However, Danny wasn't so confident and Ben's attack only confirmed his fears. Not one of the Heartless he'd collided with had been destroyed. At the most they were lying on the ground for a split second before they were up and charging again and the airborne hadn't been touched.

"Eep!" He cried, just managing to dodge a flying bandit's sword as he leaned his upper body back further than any normal person could ever hope to. However, he failed to even notice as the armoured balls circled him until they'd all fired either a fireball or an ice shard, all of which smashed right into him.

"ARGH!" With the blows coming from all sides, Danny didn't have a chance to fall. Forceful, burning heat crashed into his arms and chest, knocking him back and right into the freezing shards ripping through the flesh of his legs and back, freezing his upper arms to his back and propelling him forward into another wave of fireballs. "Augh-ARGH!"

"What? DANNY!" Ben cried pulling to an immediate stop as the ghost boy's screams hit his ears. Pulling himself back to his feet, he took one quick, panicked look for Danny before running right back to him, batting any Heartless that came near him away with his armoured forearms and claws. But he too was quickly overwhelmed. One of the beastly creatures spun behind him and slugged Ben with his tail so forcefully he was propelled into the air right as another jumped up and rammed him in the gut. Winded, Ben could barely gasp at the pain screaming at him as he crashed into a tree trunk, the tree plummeting to the ground on top of him as he landed on his back.

"Ben!" Danny groaned, taking advantage of the slight delay in his aggressors' attacks to drop onto his hands and knees on the ground. He barely managed to roll out the way of the next barrage of elemental projectiles, flinching and screaming as the rocks and bark scattered across the ground dug into his cuts and burns only to just stop a winged bandit with an optical ice beam before it could behead him. Looking up, trying to see if Ben was ok, he gritted his teeth as more and more swirls of darkness unleashed Heartless by the truckload all around them, many of them aiming their swords, claws, tails or elemental blasts at Ben's stuck and vulnerable form.

"NOO-AAAARRRRGGGGHHH!" Danny started to scream, gathering everything he had left in his throat for a ghostly wail, only to lose it as a dark, fiery green energy beam struck him right in the back and encased his entire body. His scream turned into one of pure agony as what felt like fire pierced through his entire being, bringing blinding pain to every single cell in his body.

"DANNY, NO!" Ben roared, throwing his limbs around wildly as he watched, only to fail. What felt to him to be the heaviest tree in the world had firmly planted his hands on the ground. He couldn't even transform in his current condition. It was with horrified, helpless eyes that he forced to watch Danny writhe and scream.

Not long after it started, Danny's hair started turning grey before slowly returning to its normal, raven black. His clothes followed not much later, turning into his jeans as the upper half's sleeves receded and faded before turning into his usual white shirt. All that was left as his screams continued was an eerie, green glow outlining his body.

"Who is doing this?" Ben cried, ignoring the pain erupting all over his white padded body as he followed the dark magic attack Danny to its source. However, he needn't have bothered, for the moment his eyes found her, Maleficent let loose her loud, annoying cackle. "YOU! What are you doing to him?"

"Just watch brat." Was her only response, though she seemed to have given the Heartless a silent command as they backed off of him a little, allowing him to see the dreadful sight.

"AAAAUUUUUURRRRGGGGHHHHH!" Danny's screams reached all new levels of volume as the green, ghostly glow rippled, as if it was being peeled off. Ben's heart rate accelerated to the speed of a bullet train as Danny suddenly wrenched back, his body curling into a near impossible angle as the ghostly energy pulled away from him, like Goop being slowly pulled away by his anti-gravity machine.

"STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" Ben roared, letting his rage overlap his fear as he glared at Maleficent, struggling once again to free himself. "If you don't stop it right now, I'll-"

"Oh shut up! I've had enough of your screeching." Maleficent snapped, flicking her head towards him. "His powers will be ours in a matter of moments, ripped from every single cell of his being. Then he will follow you to oblivion!"

The airborne Bandits didn't waste a second, charging in the second Maleficent flicked her head, swords poised to stab as they closed in around Cannonbolt. Trying one last time to free himself only to find it useless, Ben swallowed his urge to panic and shot his most intense glare up at Maleficent. If he was going to die, he was going to do it proudly damn it! None of that terrified, begging for mercy crap.

_I just wish I could at least face death on my feet._ He thought to himself before sparing one last sorrowful glance at Danny as almost all of the ectoplasm detached from his body. _Or died saving him._

"Justice Burst!"

"Magical Ball!"

"Huh?" Ben gaped, thrown off as a barrage of purple, electrical blasts flew all around him, destroying every Heartless above him and blowing back all of those approaching him.

At the same time, a purple outlined light ball flew straight up at Maleficent. Hissing, Maleficent tried to retaliate, but her spell took too long to end, slowing her movements and leaving her with a blow to the shoulder. Screaming, she flew back, rubbing her wound tenderly as she scanned for the new opponents.

"Sorry we're late, we weren't sure who to help first." Ryo called, smirking as he leaped over Ben with his enlarged metal arm over his head. "Thunderclap!" Smacking it heavily into the ground, the shockwave he released was more than enough to dispel every Heartless within hitting range, simultaneously shaking the tree off of Ben.

Meanwhile, Namine had been running towards Danny before she'd even fired her spell, catching him as he was freed from Maleficent's power and collapsed. Taking just enough time to place his unconscious form down comfortably, Namine quickly brought light to life in her hands and moved them around the ectoplasmic power that had been ripped from her friend's being, using her magic to gather and contain it as it, without a host or anything attracting it, started to dissipate.

"I gotta do this quick." She muttered, praying she'd be left alone as she kneeled down next to Danny. Sighing with relief as Ben rolled in, creating a trench around her, and Ryo leaped right between her and the scowling Maleficent, she placed her hands just over Danny's chest. "I hope this works he still has a little bit inside his body, so he should recognise it. Magical Annul!"

Her magic, forming a sphere around the green ectoplasm, sunk into Danny's chest as it touched him, returning what was stolen along with it. Focusing more of her power into his chest as the sphere disappeared, a little worried that the spell wouldn't work, Namine let a small smile cross her face as she felt the infusion reasserting itself. However, it quickly turned into a frown as her scans of his body noticed something off. Though had been restored to his form, it seemed to be melding differently. On top of that, instead of transforming like he should have, his body just started to levitate before the eerie glow returned.

"What's going on here?" She muttered, her fear evident in her voice.

"What, is something wrong?" Ryo asked, letting a worried eye flicker back to her as he blocked a Heartless' sword with his voltage blade and cutting through both the weapon and the wielder.

"I'm not sure. His living and non-living energies are mixing differently. He's still alive and all his power's back, but I don't know what to make of this new composition."

"Well, in that case..." Ben started, cutting himself off as he consumed himself in a green flash. "Spidermonkey! It would probably be best if we figure out what's going on with him later. Ooh ooh, ah AH!" He finished, waving his hands in the air as he bounced around and fired spider webs at the Heartless.

"HIYA! That might be a good idea." Ryo agreed, the sudden appearance of nervousness in his voice despite his flying kick destroying a descending Wyvern, had the others immediately turning to him. "We might not still be alive for much longer if that hits us."

Following his line of sight, Namine paled and Ben dropped his jaw as they found Maleficent, boiling with rage and with an enormous amount of power gathering in her staff.

"I see your point. But how do we run from something THAT BAD?" Ben screeched, pulling Danny into his arms before back flipping over a pair of Heartless trying to sneak up on him, ploughing their monkey heads into the ground before shooting a string of web at a charging skull headed creature, wrapping it around its feet and sending it tumbling to the ground and pinning down another pair of Heartless.

"There's only one way." Namine forced out, swallowing hard in an attempt to push back her terror as she raised her hand.

"A portal? But Heartless gather like crazy at both ends of that thing!" Ryo cried shakily, not sure that he wanted to go along with this.

"It'll only take us back into the trees, and with the number of Heartless around here and attacking us, it won't make much difference anyway." Namine responded as a speck of light appeared before her hand and grew into a full sized portal. "Now move it fast!" She ordered, just as a scream from Maleficent met their ears, followed immediately by the explosive sound of her magic flying their way.

One look at the five thick, fiery beams coming from her staff was all the boys needed to agree and they quickly jumped through after Namine. Coming out a second later, Ben and Ryo jumped away from the portal screaming as a fiery, green blast appeared in its centre, but a quick flick of Namine's hand dispelled the portal before it could get through.

"No time to gawk, let's run." Namine shouted, already sprinting away as the Heartless they'd been fighting just moments ago burst through the trees, accompanied by the countless swirls of dark energy of arriving Heartless all around them.

Ben was off in an instant. Using his extra set of arms, web slinging tail and the monkey form's natural affinity with forests, Ben had no problems swinging through the trees, quickly passing Namine while simultaneously trapping every Heartless coming after him in spider webs, or sticking them to trees.

"Thunderclap!" Ryo on the other hand, held back, slamming his enlarged hand into the ground and blowing everything within a three meter radius of him away. He wasn't going to let the Heartless keep up, no matter how many there were. They still had to help Kim and the others and if they were already having enough trouble to call in backup, then they did not need this crowd reaching them too.

Throwing his fist into a pirate's face, he dived into an army roll to avoid a flamethrower from a big, fat bowling ball Heartless and sweep kicked a Neo Shadow with enough force to slam it claws first into one of the bone headed creatures. Jumping back to his feet just as his helmet warned him of something big moving behind him, he nearly forgot to leap away as he found none other than a previously normal tree coming to life and lashing out with its branches at the speed of a fired cannon ball.

"What the hell? Is Maleficent into evil Homes and Gardens or something?" He gaped, shoving his elbow right through a Monkey's head and blowing it up into wisps as he landed in another, still hopefully normal, tree. Making sure his scanners kept an eye on all the Heartless, he turned his own critical eyes onto the attacking tree as it turned to approach him. He found what he was looking for just as it turned to face him, right as he jumped straight up to avoid what looked like a storm of razor sharp leaves coming his way: a creepy face sitting just over the top of the weird heart symbol most of the Heartless bore.

"The tree became a Heartless? How did that happen?" He growled as he thrust his metal hand right through a Heartless flying on an open book, irritated by the turn of events. "Trees don't have hearts, so how..."

He caught sight of the answer before he even finished the question. Landing on a higher branch, he prepared his arm for a justice burst just as a ghostly, dark ball flew past his face and into the tree he was standing on. His breath hitched as the face and symbol appeared on that tree too, wrapping branches around Ryo's waist and left arm before he could even respond.

"AUGH CRAP!" Was the last thing he could say before the branches wrapped themselves up his chest and squeezed, putting a great deal of strain on his muscles and making it almost impossible to breathe, let alone scream at the pain. And to make it worse, five Heartless were jumping his way from all different directions. But Ryo couldn't care less about that. Thrashing and wheezing, all his pain filled mind could see through his squinting eyes was the other tree swinging a particularly thick branch at his head with enough speed to decapitate him.

_I'm gonna be killed by plants. _Was all his suffocating mind could think of, leaving him almost dying of humiliation before the trees could do a thing._ Man, even in death, I'll never be able to live this down._


	8. Plan Decided

**Plan Decided! Final Stand Put Into Motion**

Terrified and not wanting to see his gruesome end, Ryo clenched his eyes shut tight. It was pointless trying to escape, all the struggling he'd done before only resulting in the tightening grip, making it a challenge just to breathe. With no chance of escaping, he just dropped his head in defeat.

_Just please, don't let my cause of death be written on my tombstone._ He pleaded, biting his lip as the sound of the rushing tree branch grew louder.

"Shard of Lightning!" A sudden burst of hope filled him as three voices shouted, two of which were very familiar. Opening his eyes, he expected to see them running right to him, however, before they even got halfway open, he'd found that not only were the branches gone from his body, but he was in someone's arms a good ten feet from the tree.

"What...how did I..." He spluttered, staring around wildly, completely baffled on what just happened as he watched the attacking tree's branch crash into its duplicate.

"We used a magical item to move at the speed of lightning and saved you before the tree could get to you." Turning his head, he found a muscular guy with silver hair letting go of him before launching a horizontal slash with a blade with a similar shape to Roxas' at another one of those ghostly balls, destroying it instantly. Three more Heartless shot their way a second later, but the boy never let them get close, leaping right at them and destroying them all with three quick slashes. Landing on the ground, he back flipped away from a monkey's swipe before kicking off a tree and destroying the monkey with a diagonal strike.

"Sorry we took so long." Kim called, tossing a Heartless over her shoulder and into a swooping wyvern as she landed beside Ryo. "Even with Donald and Goofy showing up, we needed a bit more time to wrap up the problem near the ship."

"Hey, my grave isn't going to say 'died by flower power' anymore. I'm just grateful you showed up at all." He replied, giving her a thankful smile. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go play weed wacker." With that, he leapt off to another tree, placing the possessed plants between him and the bulk of the attacking Heartless.

"I see." Kim grinned, pulling out her lipstick. "Alright guys, round them up!"

"You got it." Ben called as he flashed green. "Swampfire!" Not wasting a second, he threw his arms up and tossed a number of seeds into the horde of Heartless before the flash even disappeared and quickly made them grow into vines, using them to wrap around the Heartless while having the already existing trees lash out at the Heartless to the sides, knocking them into the thick of it.

Using the high ground to her advantage, Kim activated the shard of lightning before firing away at every airborne Heartless, along with the occasional monkey in the trees. Every target fell to the ground hard and into the mass as the shard's power ended.

Riku was a flurry of motion, never staying in the same spot for more than two seconds. Showing off jumping talent equal to that of Roxas, Riku leapt off every surface he met, quickly making it through the trees and destroying every opponent he crossed paths with with one clean slash or thrust of his blade. Landing on a large branch halfway up a tree only to find himself surrounded by red armoured balls, he twisted his feet and spun on the spot as he swung his arm out, destroying them all in one slash. Restabilising himself, he spared time for one quick look around and, finding himself reasonably safe, pointed his Keyblade down at the dark mass trying to follow them.

"Dark Volley!" Rapidly twisting his wrist, he fired a barrage of dark blasts from Way To Dawn into the crowd like bullets from a machine gun. None of the blasts manage to destroy any Heartless, but the concussive blows landing all around his side of the mass was more than enough to knock them back and herd them in line with the trees.

Taking just enough time to ensure the others weren't in the line of fire, Ryo jumped up as high as he could, gathering as much power into his arm as he could as he dived at the first tree.

"Voltage blade!" Spinning in mid air so as to avoid a branch lashing out at him, he flung up his arm with a crescent slash, his longer than usual energy blade cutting right through the first tree like a knife through butter. However, he wasn't done. Using the upper half of the broken tree, he kicked off back into the air, rapidly spinning his body like a high speed ballerina as his outstretch foot glowed brightly.

"Justice kick!" The mighty kick proved to be more than the second tree could handle, breaking through the bark and halfway into the trunk itself, sending it plummeting down.

"TIMBER!" Ryo couldn't help himself as jumped back, smirking proudly as the three giant pieces of lumber crashed into the mass of Heartless. The dark creatures never stood a chance. None were able to escape the crash site with the other three teens firing away and with the weight and force the trees possessed they were easily able to crush the Heartless. To make it even better, the trees rebounded after the first crash, moving out in three different directions and barrelling into most of the remaining Heartless. By the time it was done, only those that possessed the trees and around ten other Heartless were left in the area.

"Oh no you don't!" Caught off guard by Riku's growl, Ryo looked down and just in time to see the tall Keybearer drop into a power dive. Following the boy's path, Ryo nearly paled at the reason. Both of the possessors were not only unharmed, but were heading for a new tree and a hiding jaguar.

"Whoa, can't let that happen." Ben cried, throwing a flamethrower at one. The blast hit spot on, but had a much greater concussive effect than anything else, mostly just blowing it into Riku's flight path. On the other side, Kim fired her laser lipstick again, doing the same thing to the other, making it easy for Riku. Grinning, Riku flipped his body in midair, kicking the first one just high enough up that it ended up just above the second, and destroyed them both with a vertical slash of his darkly glowing Keyblade before landing deftly on his feet as if he'd done nothing at all.

"Heh, to easy." He smirked, leaning on his Keyblade.

"Oh great, another show off." Kim sighed. "We seem to be collecting more and more of them."

"Like you can talk, little Miss cheerleader." Ben retorted, giving her a playful smirk.

"Hi heroes, these guys aren't all gone and more Heartless will be here any second. How about we get out of here while the going's good?" Riku butted in impatiently, already running back the way they'd came.

"I'm all for that." Ben nodded, transforming into Jetray.

"Then everyone gather here." Kim called, planting her foot into a Shadow's face as she fired her grappling hook, swinging down beside Riku the second it latched onto a tree and pulled out the Shard of Lightning.

"What exactly do we do with that thing?" Ryo asked as he and Ben landed beside them, staring curiously at the blue ball and ignoring the pools of darkness growing around them again.

"Just touch it and say its name with us." Ben answered, placing a finger on the handle, Riku doing the same. Shrugging, Ryo just followed suit. "Alright everyone, one, two, three!"

"SHARD OF LIGHTNING!" Ryo watched in amazement as the ball burst to life with electricity right before releasing what looked like a reddish light all around the area. Looking around, he smiled, his eyes alight with wonder as he took everything in. It was like time had come to a complete stop. The Heartless were as still as statues, even the things in the air didn't so much as twitch. It was absolutely amazing.

"Justiman, move it!" Kim shouted, snapping him out of it. Turning back to the others, his eyes widened as he found them already exiting the clearing. "We're moving at the speed of lightning, but only for as long as a flash of lightning lasts. That's a little while for us, but we have to use every mini second to our advantage."

"Oh, ok, coming." He spluttered, blushing a little from slight embarrassment. He'd completely spaced out at the sight of magic. It's not like he had mach experience with it after all. _Still, I can ask if I can have a play with it after this is all over._ Making a note to ask later, he took off as fast as he could after the others, easily catching up.

...

"If they don't get here soon, we're going to be up the creek again." Raimundo muttered under his breath, checking over all the takeoff preparations. Not that it was necessary, but he had to do something to distract him from his nerves.

The fight had ended much quicker than Rai had expected. It seemed to be endless beforehand, but once Donald and Goofy appeared, they tore straight through them like ragdolls. Rai just chalked that up to the long history the humanoid animals had fighting Heartless and just smiled gratefully before heading back to the ship.

However, his nerves had gone right up to high alert when Namine joined them, with none other than Ben and Danny by her side. The light Namine gave out quickly drew more Heartless, though not nearly as many as before, and Danny's condition did not look good.

Knowing the danger of leaving Danny vulnerable and how much Namine attracted, the group knew that they'd have to leave as quickly as possible, so Donald and Rai took Danny into the ship, Rai to prepare it to leave and Donald to monitor and protect Danny from any Heartless that entered it, while Namine and Goofy stayed outside, hoping that the Heartless would be drawn to their purer hearts and keep the ship untouched.

The strategy seemed fine at first, however, Namine and Goofy were quickly tiring out and the number of Heartless was increasing more and more as time went on. If it didn't end very soon, they'd lose them and Donald and Rai would be screwed.

"Take this ya no good Heartless!" Goofy shouted, tossing his shield like a Frisbee. It proved to be quite affective, cutting down a number of Heartless before returning to him like a boomerang.

Meanwhile, Namine dealt with those that got in too close. Dancing in circles around Goofy, she weaved away from every attack sent her way before lashing out with light filled karate chops.

However, while dodging a slash from a Neoshadow, she found herself face to face with a miniature creature flying on a book and was helpless to defend herself as it slammed the book into her head.

"Argh!" Pain burning in the side of her head, she crashed to the ground hard and groaned. Dizzy and stunned, she tried opening her eyes, only to find everything had gone blurry. In addition, her thought and response speed was almost nonexistent and with the pain in her head only increasing, she just gave up and closed her eyes, completely helpless.

"Uh-oh!" Goofy gaped, slamming his shield into the book riding Heartless. "Namine's out. What do I do now?" He asked worriedly, moving one leg over so he was standing right over her, his shield held high. However, it was futile gesture. There were simply too many Heartless around for him to fight and protect the downed blonde.

"Oh crap!" Rai shouted at the sight, bolting out of his seat. Ignoring Donald's startled quack and string of complaints, Rai ran straight to the door and threw it open, raising both arms at his sides.

"Get down! Typhoon Boom, Wind!" Goofy didn't need to be told twice. The loveable captain immediately dropped to the ground, protecting Namine with his body right as the shockwave surged over his head, blowing all the Heartless forcefully back, landing painfully against or around the trees.

"Thanks. Now catch her." Goofy called, pulling Namine up with him as he jumped to his feet and tossing her to Rai before turning back to the rising Heartless. "You keep 'em out of ya ship and I'll handle them out here."

"You can't take on all of them on your own!" Rai cried, watching Goofy charge helplessly as Namine fell into his arms. Goofy however, didn't care. Reaching the first few Heartless, he cleanly blocked the first one's attack with his shield before jerking the shield forward with a thrust of his arm, flinging it away with slam to the head. Swinging his arm to the side before he'd even lost any momentum, he struck a Soldier right in the gut and sent it head first into a tree before continuing on by pulling his into a spin and altering the angle of his shield horizontally so it's edge swung into and through a Bandit's neck, destroying it. As Rai watched with amazement, Goofy only continued to pick up speed, blocking, swinging and thrusting his shield into every Heartless he came across, destroying many of them, until finally reaching his peak right in the middle of the nearest horde.

"Goofy tornado!" Spinning on one foot like a spinning top with his shield out to his side at speeds that competed with Rai's himself, Goofy tore right through the lot of them, sending wisps of darkness flying in all directions.

"Unreal." Rai muttered, absentmindedly blowing away the few Heartless Goofy missed as he watched the dog creature's tornado move zigzag throughout the horde. "He's destroying so many of them without any offensive powers and he hasn't taken a single hit, despite the fact that he's just charging in head on. What amazing talent."

"You learn a lot after face multiple lines of endless Heartless." Rai almost jumped right out of his clothes at Donald's voice. He'd been so entranced by the fight that he hadn't noticed Donald's or the fact that he'd taken Namine literally off of his hands.

"So you and the Keybearers can do all that too?" Rai asked, throwing another burst of wind as what looked like a Halloween jack-in-the-box tried to leap through the doorway as Donald laid Namine down by Danny.

"Besides Kairi, who's still new to her Keyblade, yes. Though each of us do it in our own way." Donald nodded. Keeping his eyes on the door, ready for another attack, Rai didn't notice the worried look in Donald's eyes. "I do it almost entirely with magic while the King, Sora and Riku have varying degrees of magic and swordsmanship. However, none of us can keep that pace up indefinitely and of all of us, Goofy style is easily the most taxing. Goofy's going to reach his limit very shortly."

It was at that moment that Goofy's spin came to an end. Stumbling and puffing, he fell right to his knees the second he stopped twirling, his free hand holding his head as his vision continued on its spinning cycle. Drained, dizzy and barely paying attention, he never noticed the centaur coming up behind him until it was right on top of him, its lance poised to run through his skull.

"Uh-oh!" Gulping, Goofy stared back with wide eyed terror. There was no way that he could move away in time and his position and fatigue made his shield useless. "Looks like this is the end of Goofy Goof." As the Centaur pulled his arm back, Goofy just closed his eyes, not wanting to see his end.

"Thundaga!" However, what came instead was an almost blinding flash of light as four lightning bolts crashed down from the heavens right into the centaur. Daring to hope, he opened his eyes just in time to see Raimundo swoop in from down low and kick the lance right out of the centaur's hand.

"How about I better acquaint you to your beloved weapon?" He shouted as he jumped into the air. Grabbing the lance right before the centaur could, Rai back flipped in the air and thrust it right into the small centaur's fried back and fell to the ground is it imploded.

"Goofy, get on the ship and get your strength back. I can hold them off for a while." Rai told him, thrusting his open palms together and unleashing a fierce whirlwind at the approaching Heartless.

"But...you're exhausted already." Goofy responded, watching on worriedly as Rai let his attack die down. Though Rai was doing a good job of hiding it, Goofy didn't become the King's Captain just by being his loveable friend. He could see past the facade. Rai was at his limit. Every time he'd used his powers, he'd put a great deal of energy into them, meaning every move taxed him greatly. One or two more blasts of wind and Rai would collapse.

"So are you." He responded, unleashing a brutal snap kick at a charging Neo Shadow. Taking a deep breath, he prepared for the next one, but before he could even touch it, his eyes widened and he screamed in agony as a robed creature appeared out of nowhere right beside him, digging both of its claws deep into Raimundo's side.

"Oh no, a Nightwalker! Raimundo!" Terrified for the downed monk, Goofy sprung to his feet and leapt right over Rai, throwing up his shield just in time to save Raimundo from a vicious burst of flame.

Grunting, Raimundo forced his head up, worried for his new friend, and dropped his jaw almost completely forgot about the pain he was in. While Goofy had been blocking fire, two more Nightwalkers had swooped in at the dog. However, Goofy didn't even bat an eye. Taking a step back as the flames receded, he leapt at his foes and swung his shield in a diagonal strike. Hitting the one on his right hard in the head with the edge of the shield, he twisted it so the face slammed heavily into the face of the Nightwalker on the left before looping his arm and hammering down on the middle one's head and crushing it to the ground without losing any momentum throughout the whole ordeal. What amazed Rai even more was the fact that all three were destroyed. All with just one swing and a few twists of his wrist.

"I...I thought you were t-tired." He groaned, starting to shake as the pain in his side made itself known again.

"Na, just a bit dizzy. Nothin a few seconds rest wouldn't fix." Goofy responded, tossing his shield like a disk and affectively destroying another four Heartless before helping Raimundo to his feet, wrapping one of the monk's arms around his shoulders as he helped him towards the ship.

"Goofy, the Heartless!" Rai almost had a panic attack as Goofy turned them around just as another ten Heartless shot down at them from the sky.

"Don't worry." Was the only response goof gave him. his breathing becoming erratic, Raimundo tried to turn and release a gale, but Goofy just held him in place. He calmed down a moment later however, as the source of Goofy's calmness revealed itself: a white and blue blur leaping over their heads.

"Comet!" Despite the pain and the situation, Raimundo couldn't but smile at the duck's spell. Multicoloured fireworks went off all over the place, striking and destroying every Heartless they touched. The place lit up like the fourth of July and every Heartless he could see was obliterated.

"Donald, Sora and I can always predict exactly what each of us will do when something happens and knows when to jump in." Goofy said happily as they reached the ship. Picking Rai up bridal style, He jumped through the door and set Rai down in a chair next to the others, sighing in relief when he noticed the lack of Heartless inside. "Good, in here's still safe."

"But wi...th three of us down..." Rai trailed off into a hiss, his eyes scrunched up in pain. The slightest movement was having a very negative effect on his side.

"Don't worry, we're the good guys remember?" Goof responded giddily, giving Rai a large, dopey smile before turning to look out the open door. "When things look as bad as they can get, heroes jump out of nowhere for a big, dramatic rescue. Ah, here we go."

Sure enough, it at that moment that two flashes, one red and one purple, shot right up out of the trees, one aiming its tail down at the freshly appearing Heartless while the other dived down, increasing the size of his metal hand.

"Thunderclap!" The resulting shockwave of the supercharged palm smacking the ground ripped up the earth and thrust every Heartless helplessly into the air, easy targets for the high speed flying manta ray shooting beam after beam from his tail and eyes all over the place. Most were destroyed instantly, but even those that survived never made it to the ground. Kim frequently appeared out of nowhere, threw the best kick she could into the Heartless or swung them back into the air before disappearing in a flash of lightning. Every Heartless she met ended up flying in the same direction, where Riku leaped out of the brush, swing Way To Dawn quickly, but almost casually in continuous cross slashes, destroying them all.

"You're just in time." Donald cheered, waving them towards the ship. "Now come on, three of the others are hurt. We have to go."

"What do you...know. You're right." Rai commented, forcing a grin as the others hastily ran to the ship. "Now if we can...just work on g...getting there five min...minutes before we...need a rescue."

"How is everyone?" Kim asked, giving the group a quick glance as she ran to the controls. It was clear that she was concerned, but if someone didn't fly them out now, they'd be overrun with black monstrosities and with Ben's crashing record, she was easily the best suited to fly the ship.

"They'll live, as long as we patch up Rai's side long enough for Namine to heal him." Goofy responded as he took out the first aid kit and sat next to Raimundo, helping him out of his robe and pressing a large patch of gauze to his side.

Nodding, Kim waited just long enough for Ben and Ryo to sit down and support Danny and Namine before taking off as fast as she could, unable to keep the smirk off of her face at the sound of Heartless being blown off the ship's roof as she made a direct course for the satellite.

...

"Now if THAT doesn't get my blood BOILING, NOTHING WILL!" Hades roared, literally red with rage. "How could we let not only the ghost boy and the weirdo shapeshifter, but also four other little heroes and three of the key boy's pathetic friends GET AWAY?"

"Calm yourself, my fiery friend. There is no need to blow up our fortress." Jafar responded calmly, fiddling absentmindedly with his cobra staff. "It's not as if this changes much."

"Hey, turban head. In case you're forgetting, you underestimating the key brat and his friends is what got your butt kicked time and again." Hades responded, reverting back to blue and using his annoying, flippant tone despite his still apparent rage. "And this world's little heroes are proving to be just as resourceful as he is."

"True, but Jafar is right." Maleficent sighed irritably, appearing on the roof beside them. "Despite their talent, they've only ever managed to escape, not cause any noticeable damage. Hook has already been thawed out and even all the Heartless that's been defeated worldwide doesn't even count for five percent of the numbers on this world. "I've checked our progress and the resistance has crumbled, along with a great number of buildings and our dark army is increasing in size. Plus, with all six of us, plus Pete, here and two of the world's most powerful heroes in our grasp, there's nothing that will stop us now."

"It does look really good for our side, but goodie goodies have pulled off miracles and won hopeless situations before." Ursula replied, joining the gathering with Buggy, Pete and a shivering Hook. "All of us have managed to take failure from the jaws of victory before after all."

"Pure luck. None of those little pipsqueaks can truly beat me." Buggy cried, throwing his arms up as he laughed.

"It's true that we were defeated individually, but I assure you Ursula, with our combined power and forces, even the annoy king will fall at our feet this-" Before she could finish her sentence, Maleficent stiffened as a very demanding jolt crossed her senses. The others all just stared at her, wondering what was wrong, and even Hades jumped when she through her head back and released a loud, maniacal laugh. "It's happened! The Heartless have found the location of the keyhole to this world. It's deep within the ice of the North Pole! Within a couple of hours, they'll break through to it and all its power will be ours! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

For miles, even the Heartless managed to feel uncomfortable as seven, dark, malicious laughs echoed throughout the area, promising the death and destruction of all.

...

"Have you figured out what's happened yet?" Kim asked as she entered the medical room, Jake and Ben right behind her. She didn't even bother looking at Bulma and Wade as she asked, keeping her eyes focused on the bed were a still unconscious Danny lay with what looked like dancing, green electricity making the frequent appearance over his body. Aside from that, he looked more or less fine, though that didn't make Kim worry any less. If he was fine, it would be easy to awaken him.

"Well, we have a few theories, but we can't say for sure." Bulma answered, giving each of the young heroes an apologetic smile before turning back to her notes. "We've looked his body with all the conventional medical methods we know and they all came back with a perfectly healthy result. We checked his level of ectoplasm and it was higher than his last results, but that would be due to his powers growing stronger since then."

"No kidding." Ben nodded, giving Danny a proud grin despite the situation. "From what I saw, he's grown even more powerful than most of my transformations. I wouldn't want him as an enemy, that's for sure."

"If everything's coming back positive, then why isn't he waking up?" Jake asked loudly, bringing the conversation back on topic.

"The connection between the living and nonliving attributes of his body is different." Wade responded, not taking his eyes off a monitor in the wall as he typed away at a Keyboard, bring up all the data they'd collected around a picture of a human outline with green lines interwoven through it. "Previously, the bond was more like a mixture, with each of his cells having an ectoplasmic coating around the outside and the nucleus. Now, it's bonded as a full compound, as much a part of every single one of his cells as anything else. We believe the reason that he's still out cold is a cross between his overexertion and his body trying to adjust to its altered structure."

"What kind of affect will that have on him after he wakes up?" Kim asked, not sure that she wanted the answer. With this going on, it sounded like he was only about an inch away from death.

"We have no idea how this will affect him or the nature of his powers." Bulma sighed sadly, biting her lip. "But Roxas used that aura eyes spell of his and assured us that his life force is perfectly stable and there's no problem with his pulse and heart rate, so he should be fine."

"I hope so." Ben said softly, a sudden bout of guilt hitting his heart as he stared down at the ghost hybrid. "I shouldn't have let this happen. I should have watched out for him more, like he did for me."

"Ben, you of all people know that sorcerers are unpredictable." Jake responded, placing a comforting hand on the sagging Ben's shoulder. "They can appear from anywhere and do almost anything. Especially if they have the kind of power it would take to get here from wherever the hell she came from with this many minions. You couldn't have stopped this."

"Yeah. Kick Maleficent's butt for this, not your own." Kim nodded, keeping her tone light as she gave Ben a small grin. "It's a lot less painful and it would really benefit us right now."

"Thanks guys." Ben muttered, forcing a smile, though the guilt was still clearly visible through it.

"So how is she?" Jake asked, a prone figure catching his eye. Hoping to find a way to change the subject, the young dragon nearly blanched at the sight of the out cold Namine. Not exactly what he was hoping for.

"Oh, don't worry about her, she just needs a little rest." Bulma answered, a more reassuringly grin growing on her face. "She healed herself just fine with everyone else, but doing it left her good and tired. She's used her powers a lot more than she's used to today."

"No kidding." Kim agreed. "She's mostly the healer, not one of the main fighters or taxi services, and she's been all of the above today. I'd be exhausted too."

"We better go then, before we wake her." Ben muttered quietly, heading back out the door. "She's going to need all the energy she can get. After all, the real battle hasn't even begun yet."

"I'll call you guys the second we have any updates on Danny." Bulma told them, noticing Kim and Jake's hesitancy to leave. "You three and Wade should go to the bridge with the others and figure out our next step. After all, every move we make is crucial at this point and we need to be ready for every possibility. The more minds to help with that, the better."

"She's right." Wade nodded, albeit hesitantly, as he got off his seat and followed after Ben. Still looking conflicted, Kim and Jake took one more worried look at Danny before following him out. As much as they hated leaving, Ben and Bulma were right. If they didn't come up with a good plan real soon and know it by heart, it wouldn't matter what state Danny was in much longer.

...

Raimundo was trying to figure out how to deal with the situation too. however, instead of being in the medical bay or the bridge, he was sitting in the lounging area, his legs crossed on the floor as he tried meditating. Master Fung had always said that it was good for clearing your head and for finding answers you seek and at that point, Raimundo was willing to give just about anything a try.

_How was he able to do it?_ He groaned as the thought entered his head, growing irritated with himself. He wasn't really any good at this at the best of times. Sitting still and thinking of nothing, even when he was searching for clarity and understanding just wasn't one of his talents. _Goofy destroyed almost every Heartless he fought in just one move. Then he was able to pick himself right back up after pulling off his strongest and most taxing move, even though he'd held it up for a large amount of time. He should have been exhausted. Even Omi would have been. It took my best attacks to destroy even a few and most of the time they just got back up. And I was completely wiped out. But I know that I'm more powerful than Goofy, so how come he could do it and I couldn't?_

"Raimundo? Why are ya here and not with us?" Rai jumped ten feet in the air with a cry as the light, goofy voice hit his ears. He'd been so deep in thought that he'd never noticed the door opening, let alone someone entering. Catching himself in the air, he opened startled eyes to find none other than the friend he'd been thinking about staring up curiously before him. "Sorry, hy-uck, I didn't mean to scare ya."

"It's fine Goofy." Rai responded, landing softly on his feet as he took a deep, calming breath. _Why not just ask him?_ He thought, noticing the still curious look on Goofy's face. _I'm sure he'll give me the answer._

"I was actually trying to figure something about you out." He said as he sat on the couch, answering Goofy's question. "I wanted to know how you were able to destroy the Heartless so easily and how you managed to get back up after your tornado move. According to Donald, using that move for such a long time should have wiped you out, especially considering how long you'd been fighting beforehand."

"Well, hy-uck, that's easy. I can answer both of your questions at once." He responded happily, flopping down on the seat next to Rai with a big jump. "Before my Goofy tornado, I didn't use up that much energy because I only put just enough effort into all of my small attacks while making sure I was using the right move on the right place to destroy the Heartless."

"Huh? I'm not quite sure how that answers my questions." Rai frowned, scratching his head confusedly.

"Well, I'll go into more detail." Goofy replied, only seeming to get happier. "Let's use your usual moves as an example. I've noticed that every offensive move you make is very powerful, meant to cause significant damage even if it doesn't knock the opponent out while every evasive move sets you away from the action, giving you more time to prepare for the next attack. Those types of moves are great for fighting an opponent like Maleficent or Hades, but not when you're fighting an army. Against a normal one, your large scale winds from the beginning will do catastrophic damage to the front lines, but you'll tire out long before you run out of enemies.

"Then there's how I fought." He continued after a moment of silence, waiting until a look of understanding crossed Rai's face. "At the beginning of defending against armies like that, I make each and every one of my movements as small as possible and conserve as much energy as I can. In addition, with every defensive move I make I try to make it possible to either stop multiple opponents or add an offensive move into the same motion. Plus, I always try to aim for where my opponent is weakest, to finish it quickly. That's something that's even more important when fighting Heartless."

"Why's that?" Raimundo asked curiously, unconsciously leaning in.

"Because a Heartless feels no pain." Goofy answered, his voice darkening slightly, shocking Raimundo. It was the first time he'd seen the anthromorphic dog anything but jovial outside of the battlefield. "With a normal opponent, your attacks would cause a lot of pain, so even if they could get back up, they'd be at less than full strength. They limp, or their reflexes slow down or their punches lack their usual strength as things go on. However, though the Heartless can only handle so much of an assault and each blow does lead them closer to their destruction, a Heartless on its last linger thread of strength will still fight as if it's fresh on the battlefield. but you can't do that too, so ya have to destroy them with as few blows as necessary."

"You conserved so much energy beforehand that your tornado only really made you dizzy." Rai muttered, resting his chin on his hand. "Yet your moves before it were far more effective than most of mine."

"It comes with practice." Goofy shrugged, his light and happy mood quickly returning. "Just remember this: any fighter can be powerful, but a great fighter is one that can do as much damage as possible with the least amount of energy. Always look for the quickest and smallest ways to defeat your enemy. That way you can fight longer and still release your more powerful moves when you really need them."

"I'll keep that in mind." Rai nodded, turning back to Goofy gratefully. "Thanks for the advice."

"You're welcome." Goofy replied giddily as he jumped up off the couch and offered his hand to the monk. "Now what do ya say we go find out what the others are planning?"

"Yeah, let's go." Raimundo smiled, taking the offered hand and getting up. _Doing all I can with the least amount of exertion. I'll figure it out and when I do, who knows, maybe I'll even be a match for Omi._

...

"Here's a disturbing pattern I'd hoped we wouldn't see!" Mickey cried, nearly knocking Roxas right out of his chair in his panic induced haste had him shoving his way to the monitor. "The Heartless are charging in like moths to a flame."

Steadying himself, Roxas ignored his indignation as he turned scared eyes to the screen. Mickey wasn't kidding, the situation had just turned even more drastic, and that was saying something. Every town and city in the world had already fallen. The Heartless controlled pretty much everything now. However, even world domination paled in comparison to this. Heartless had suddenly gathered in the frozen wastelands of the Arctic like locus at such large numbers that polar icecap had gone from white to black on the monitors in the time span of three minutes. Normally this would be horrifying, however, the fact that pretty much no one was up there only meant one thing.

"The Keyhole to this world must be at the North Pole." Sora cried, paling considerably at the sight. This was too much, even for him. he doubted he'd ever seen that many Heartless in his entire life, let alone all together. There was no way that they could save the Keyhole from all of them.

"And once it's ripped open, Maleficent will corrupt and unleash the unlimited power of Kingdom Hearts on all of existence. Nothing will survive." Mickey shouted, visibly shaking.

"Then it's game over. We lost." Dojo whimpered before letting out a scream and crying his eyes out into Roxas' shirt.

"There has to be something we can do!" Ryo growled, slamming his fist into a bench. "What about my friends and the other heroes around the globe? Can't they help?"

"Any still able to fight have gone underground." Roxas sighed, shaking his head. "They're the only thing protecting the last few shreds of humanity left. If we call them all in, there won't be any life left on the planet to save by the time we're done. Besides, in the tired out states they're likely to be in, they wouldn't last three minutes against an army like THAT! They wouldn't last long even if they were at the top of their game."

"Then our only hope is to stop Maleficent." Mickey said sadly, his ears drooping as he turned away from the screen. "Unfortunately, it looks like this world is doomed no matter what we do, but Kingdom Hearts should destroy all of the Heartless once it's revealed if it's left untempered with. It's far too pure and powerful for them to consume. As long as we can stop Maleficent and her allies, the rest of existence should be safe. After that, we'll just have to relocate everyone still alive to another world."

"You can't seriously mean that that's the best we can do!" Jake cried, drawing everyone's attention to the door as he and the others entered the bridge, Goofy and Raimundo right behind them and all of them looking appalled.

"I'm sorry, but unless you have a major doomsday weapon stored away that can destroy that many Heartless, we have no alternatives." Mickey sighed, pointing to the blackened North Pole. "And that kind of thing would cause untold damage to your planet's climate anyway."

"At least it's only your planet that's doomed and not your whole dimension." Donald added. "Normally once this happens, the whole dimension falls to darkness."

"Yeah, but this is still our home." Ben responded, biting his lip as tears gathered in his eyes. "We can't just give it up."

"I'm sorry, but we don't have much-" Riku started, only to be cut off as a ringing echoed throughout the room at the same time the monitor's picture changed to show an incoming call, displaying an unusually designed F next to a cliché, green ghost.

"It's the Fentons!" Wade cried excitedly, rushing to the console. With a single click, the screen instantly changed to show a very proud looking Maddie and Jack Fenton.

"Valour's Light, we are happy to report that our mission has been a big success." Maddie stated as Jack wave his arms in victory. "Though stopping Jack from destroying every ghost he saw was a little bit of a challenge. Anyway, the Spectre Speeder is about to enter the living realm with Clockwork, Wulf, Pandora and her servants, three hundred ice yetis, Dora and every member of her medieval kingdom and fifty animals all tailing behind us."

"We even found a triceratops! Can you believe it?" Tucker exclaimed excitedly as he pushed his head over Maddie's shoulder, though he was quickly pulled back as Jazz made her way to the camera.

"According to this ghost map, our portal's been destroyed." She stated, gnawing on her lip. "We can use others, but they're kinda far off, so we're going to use Wulf's portals. Any particular place you want us to pop up?"

"Judging from what I've read in Danny's ghost files, that's around a thousand ghosts." Roxas smiled, joy and relief quickly growing in his and the other Guardians' hearts.

"And ghosts don't have hearts, so they Can't become Heartless." Jake cheered excitedly.

"And even if you can hurt them, they're really hard to destroy." Rai added, grinning widely. "Not to mention the power levels of a lot of those guys are huge."

"This is just what we need to turn the tide." Kim exclaimed jovially before turning to Mickey and the others. "How long until the Heartless would reach the Keyhole?"

"Left alone? Hours most likely." Mickey responded thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "They'll be able to sense that it's nearby, but they won't be entirely sure where until they can see it and judging from the climate of the area, I'd say it's buried deep within the ice."

"In that case, let's throw them back and undo their work at the same time." Raimundo stated, turning back to the screen. "Guys, we'll need you to create two portals. We have enormous numbers of Heartless at the North Pole that are about to find the heart of our and every other world, and when I say enormous, I'm giving an understatement. Most of the ghosts will have to go there to get rid of them and refreeze every place they've dug into the ice. But have Wulf and twenty animals join us here. We'll need enough back up to break through and keep the Heartless around Maleficent's fortress from following us in."

"I'll come and help you too." Another female voice said firmly as an African girl in a red suit moved in front of the camera. "My suit provide both plenty of protection and explosive power. I'll have no problem holding back the Heartless."

"It's a good idea." Kairi muttered, albeit a little hesitantly. "Having a heart out there will stop the Heartless in the area from just teleporting themselves after us once we're in the fortress. But they'll all be gunning for her."

"We'll just have to set it up so the ghosts keep her well protected." Riku replied. "I don't like risking her life like that, but at this point, we're about out of options. We need every speck of power and every advantage we can get."

"Then we'll be there in a few minutes." She stated, leaving the camera's view.

"By the way, have you got any information on Danny yet?" Maddie asked, her face full of trepidation as she moved back on screen. "Please tell me you've found him."

"He's here in the satellite." Wade answered reassuringly.

"Oh thank goodness!" Maddie sighed, a relieved smile growing quickly on her face.

"Well, where is he? Let us talk to him." Jack shouted eagerly, his eyes darting this way and that around the screen in search of his wayward son.

"He's unconscious in the medical bay, but don't worry, he has no major injuries and all his vitals are perfectly fine." Kim replied, continuing hastily as Jack and Maddie's faces turned panicked again.

"So he'll be ok?" Jazz asked, butting in again, with Sam and Tucker staring worriedly behind her.

"Yeah. From what we can tell, his body's just adjusting to the new configuration between his ectoplasm and biological structures. Maleficent tried to take away his ghost powers." Wade nodded.

"Listen, don't worry about Danny right now. He's about as safe as anyone else." Ben stated firmly, demanding their attention. "As soon as you return to our realm, you'll be in constant danger. If you're thinking about Danny, us or anyone else, you'll become a Heartless. Only focus on and worry about the things you can change."

"You're right of course." Maddie sighed, closing her eyes and nodding hesitantly. However, when she opened them again, the look on her face was one of confidence and determination. "Don't worry about the North Pole, we'll have it fully protected. You guys just take care of each other and do what you have to do. Remember, anyone who doesn't come back home alive is in deep trouble, got it?" She added with a wink.

"Got it." Everyone responded, either grinning or smirking back.

"Good luck everyone." Jazz called right as the transmission ended. At the same time, what looked like an eerie, green version of the Golden Tiger Claws' portal appeared in the centre of the room. The group had just enough time to back away from it before what looked like a glowing werewolf in green clothes leaped through, quickly followed by the young, red and black clad girl and twenty different animals, including a puppy, five bears, a few lions, oversized rabbits, wolves, snakes and a couple of birds the size of your average sedan.

"Someone call for backup? I'm Valerie, the Red Huntress by the way." The girl asked coolly, letting her helmet disappear.

"Um, do we really think that big rabbits are going to be helpful?" Kairi asked softly, looking a little doubtfully at the large, fluffy tailed creatures. "Or a puppy?"

"You'd be surprised." A new voice replied dryly from the doorway. Loud gasps echoed throughout the room as everyone turned to see Danny leaning against the doorframe, a small, amused smirk on his face. Seeing him, both Wulf and the puppy let loose excited cries as they charged, leaping and knocking him to the floor, licking his face the whole time.

"Ok, Hahaha, I'm happy to see you too. now come on guys, let me up." He laughed, patting both of them affectionately on the head. Wulf did as he was asked almost instantly, but still stayed close with a smile on his face as Danny grabbed the puppy and set it on his lap as he sat up, smiling all the while. "The rabbits have one hell of a kick and this little guy can turn into a dog the size of a bear and just as strong. He used to take ME for runs when he was with me, and by that I mean that I was flailing in the air. What are these guys doing here anyway?"

"Your family, Tucker, Sam and I went to collect every ghost ally you have to help fight the invasion." Valerie responded with a warm smile, offering her hand and helping him up as he took it. "We got a LOT, but the others took the army to fight at the North Pole."

"Why...never mind, you guys can catch me up later." Danny replied, shaking his head. "I've got some information for you."

"Really? How?" Mickey asked, raising a curious eyebrow. "Did you see something inside the fortress before you broke out?"

"Better. I'm still in it." Danny responded, a large smirk growing on his face as Sora and his friends' faces turned confused. "Or rather my clone is. Even after I was knocked out, my clone stayed intact and continued to operate right under Maleficent's nose. Overshadowing the dumb pirate."

"You possessed Captain Hook? And they haven't figured it out?" Roxas asked, a large grin crossing his face. "Perfect. He's too much of a buffoon for the others to pay him much attention and high enough up in the food chain that they won't question his appearance anywhere."

"Yep. My clone's spent the time I've been napping scouring the fortress and has sent everything to my head." Danny said proudly, tapping his temple. I know exactly how to get to Gohan and Gwen and all the defences inside, which include a few dozen common Heartless types as well as a Dark Thorn, a Hunter of the Dark and a Kurt Zisa."

"They're all pretty tough!" Donald cried, both his mouth and eyes going wide. "We're going to have an extremely tough time fighting both them AND their masters."

"In addition to all that, Maleficent has stolen Gwen's magic. It's all in a crystal Maleficent refuses to let go of." Danny added, his face turning apologetic as everyone else' grew more gloomy.

"That witch STOLE GWEN'S POWERS?" Ben roared, his face turning as red as fire as his eyes burned with rage. "When I get my hands on her, I am going to take Way Big's boot and shove it so far up her backside that she'll-"

"Yeah, we get the idea." Kim cut him off, throwing a hand over his mouth. "But I don't want any disturbing images thank you."

"Too late." Jake and Raimundo said together, shuddering the whole time.

"If you guys are done, we have another problem." Wade called, drawing everyone's attention to where he sat before the main computer. "The North Pole isn't the only place with a growing gathering. It looks like Maleficent is beefing up her defences."

Sure enough, as the young heroes looked up to the monitors it was to yet another black ocean, this one surrounding the fortress. The number of Heartless had at least tripled from what was there before, with many other breeds joining the crowd.

"It looks like Maleficent doesn't want to take any chances this time." Kairi commented shakily, unable to take her eyes off of the screen.

"Even with all of us together, we'll never get through that the conventional way." Sora said, sucking in a loud, deep breath.

"At least not without losing people and ending up exhausted by the time we reach the front door." Roxas agreed, glaring at the screen.

"So what can we do?" Jake asked, thoroughly perplexed. "Call the ghost army here?"

"They've already started fighting at the North Pole and we really do need them there." Wade shook his head. "I'm sorry guys, but I don't have a clue what we possible can do." He sighed sadly, staring defeatedly at the ground.

"There has to be a way." Sora muttered, glaring at the screen. "Come on guys, there has to be something that we haven't thought of."  
>"Normally I'd suggest a stealthy kind of resort, but the Heartless' ability to sense hearts and Maleficent's magic neutralise that idea completely." Kim sighed, rubbing her temples.<p>

"And can Danny even fight?" Ben asked, turning questioningly to the boy in question. "Are your powers still intact? You said your clone's still going fine, but what about your other powers? After all, that change in your biological bonding should have caused some change."

"Oh, it has." Danny nodded, a sly grin returning to his face as he raise his hand. A ball of ectoplasmic energy appeared instantly and quickly grew more and more intense, far beyond what he could do in human form before. By the time he was done, it looked as powerful as the blasts he was throwing around in his last battle. "I noticed it pretty much as soon as I woke up. I can't transform into my ghost form anymore, but I have all of my powers, strength and durability at full strength in my human form."

"So now you have only one form as opposed to a strong, ghostly form and a vulnerable human form. That takes away a weakness. And the time and energy consumption it takes to transform." Rai summed up, letting out a small chuckle. "All Maleficent did was do you a favour."

"That's great and all, but it doesn't help us with our situation." Riku butted in. "How do we possibly get through the army Maleficent has stationed around her fortress?"

"By starting with a bang." Roxas cried, realisation dawning on him as he looked around the room. "Guys, we have the necessary power literally right at our fingertips. If we're willing to make a sacrifice."

"What do you mean? What are you planning?" Kairi asked just as the door opened again, emitting Bulma and a refreshed Namine into the room.

"What action could possibly be big enough to blow that big of a dent into their forces without using up all of our strength?" Dojo asked, slithering up to Roxas' shoulder.

"I think a crash landing satellite aughta do the job quite nicely." He responded confidently.

"WHAT?" Needless to say, that was a shock to the group, particularly Bulma and the Guardians. All of their jaws had hit the floor as they stared at the blonde Keybearer with incredulous faces.

"Yeah. We crash the satellite in the wasteland by the fortress. The resulting explosion will rip every Heartless caught in the blast apart while Maleficent will make sure her fortress is safe, saving Gohan and Gwen from any danger. In addition, the blast will drain any magical defences put into play and will be the perfect cover for us to swoop in under. Yes, we'll lose our base, but I'd rather that than all existence."

"Well, when you put it that way, I don't think we have much of a choice." Bulma sighed, Wade and the other Guardians nodding reluctantly as they stared around the place, Roxas doing the same. It was just as hard for him to suggest it as it was for the others to accept it, maybe even more so. This place was his and Namine's home and even though most of the others' time up there was for monitoring duty, they'd all found time to have fun together there and enjoyed their time within it, especially Danny, who'd always dreamed of becoming an astronaut. It was Bulma's and a treasure trove of advanced technology to Wade. It was very painful to decide to destroy it.

But the world came first, no matter what.

...

Far from the escalading struggles of light and darkness, beyond even the boarders of the dimension, Paradox walked down a wide, quiet street, his usual calm, amused grin planted firmly on his face. It looked like a nice place to live, with large, beautiful houses on either side of the clean road. However, Paradox only had eyes for one house. A very large mansion.

Unperturbed by the closed gate, he simply jumped right over it and continued on his way. multiple people noticed him as he continued his stroll, but though they looked curious, none of them stopped him. it wasn't until he made it to a beautiful, well trimmed garden that he finally stopped and waited, staring unblinkingly at the large, wooden doors to the house.

He didn't have to wait long, for a moment later, the door slid open, opening the way for a tall, feminine figure.

"Interesting. It is not often that I have a visit from you time walker. Only three times in your thousands of years of existence have you strayed from the timeline of your own world. To what may I ask, has given me this honour?"

"Why bother asking questions you already know the answer to?" Paradox responded merrily, offering the woman a bright smile. "And the honour is all mine. Yuko, the Dimensional Witch."


	9. Turning The Tide With A Bang

**Turning The Tide With A Bang**

"That's the last of the stuff in my room." Danny called, dusting off his hands as he exited what had to be the largest ship Capsule Corp had ever made, passing Jake as he walked in with his hands full of boxes.

"So am I." Kim replied as she followed him before pushing him towards the door. "So I'll get all of Gwen's stuff while you get Gohan's. Come on, we've a lot of rooms to do and not a lot of time to do it in."

"Raimundo, I've been looking everywhere for the Fist of Tebigong and I was terrified that Jack got the Heart of Jong again! Why didn't you tell me they were up here?" Dojo shouted right into Rai's ear from his shoulder, making the irritated boy whip his head away, almost dropping a bunch of artefacts and a soccer ball.

"I did, you were just too busy pigging out to listen." He snapped back, clearly tempted to give the tiny dragon a good slug in the head.

"I don't believe this." Riku muttered exasperatedly as he watched on to the side, throwing his hands in the air. "The world's coming to an end and the its greatest heroes feel it's time for spring cleaning!"

"Come on Riku, we have to wait until the Satellite's in alignment with the fortress before

we can begin anyway." Kairi said soothingly. "They may as well save as many of their things that they can while we're waiting."

"Besides, a lot of it is equipment designed to fight bad guys." Mickey added before Riku could respond, his eyes focused on the two large crates Ryo was carrying on either hand, both overflowing with an assortment of lasers, eerie green ropes and other items. "There's plenty of magical artefacts going into the ship too."

"Not to mention personal, irreplaceable items like photos and my sketch books." Namine added sadly as she entered the room from behind them, her arms laden with shopping bags and a large back pack over her shoulders. "Everything Roxas and I own is up here, this was our home after all. And the others kept things up here that they thought would help whoever was on duty in battle or amuse themselves. We even kept a few spell books or items that we couldn't let fall into the wrong hands up here for safe keeping. A lot of stuff is irreplaceable."

"And do you have any idea how much money I invested into this thing?" Bulma added, walking hurriedly into the room, laden with computer parts. "We're saving everything that isn't nailed to the ground if I have anything to say about it. If you guys have nothing better to do, help out!"

"Um, ye-yes ma'am." Sora stuttered, unnerved by the fierce look she was giving them. wanting to get as far away as possible, he ran out of the room after Jake, Kairi and Goofy giggling away as they followed him.

"I see no reason not to help." Mickey shrugged, giving Donald and Riku pointed looks. The other two just sighed in defeat and nodded as they followed him to Ben. "Need any help Ben?"

"Yeah, I'm on my way to the training rooms." He nodded, smiling down at the small King. "The robots can be programmed to help carry stuff, but I'll still need a few extra hands."

"At this rate, you'll need a bigger ship to carry all this stuff." Donald sighed, throwing his head back. "How about we just call in another satellite?"

"We don't have one."

"Aaawww!"

...

"Gwen, are you ok?" Gohan asked, watching on sympathetically as Gwen groaned her way back to consciousness. She hadn't looked good from the moment he'd woken up and still had very pale skin. On top of that, her energy level was extremely low and he couldn't find that hint of magic that always brushed his senses anywhere in her. It was like she was just your average Joe.

"Maleficent stole my magic." She grunted, frowning at what was obviously a headache. "And I'm chained to a wall in a demented freak's hideout, but other than that, I'm great."

"Oh, I thought something might have been seriously wrong." Gohan responded lightly, trying to ease the tension, only for Gwen to glare. "Well, you should be happy to hear Ben and Danny escaped, with what sounds like the help of the whole gang." He added, smiling sheepishly, mentally sighing in relief as Gwen's eyes lit up. "Some overweight cat-man was going on about how 'they weren't going to save us, so don't get any bright ideas'."

"Oh, thank God." Gwen sighed, a small smiling crossing her face as she rested her head back against the wall. "Looks like my efforts and loss wasn't for nothing then."

"You got that right." Gohan nodded, trying to get himself into a more relaxed position. "And the others won't stop fighting until there's nothing left in them, we can be sure of that. they'll find a way to break into this place. We just have to be ready when they do."

"You mean you have to be ready." Gwen sighed sadly, biting her lip as she dropped her head. "Without my magic-"

"If she could take it, you, Roxas and Namine can find a way to get it back." Gohan cut her off, staring firmly at her face. "You CAN do this Lucky Girl. But for any of us to have a chance of winning this, we'll both have to be ready when the others get here, and you know they will."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." Gwen agreed, her voice growing more confident with every word. "I will be ready and we will win. But to do so, after I get my powers back, I'll need you to do one thing."

"What's that?" Gohan asked curiously as he scanned the area, satisfied that none of their captors were in hearing range.

"I'll need you to find a way to make a pentagram around Maleficent without her noticing what you're doing." She responded. "Do that, and I can get her right out of our hair no matter how powerful she is."

"You got it." Gohan nodded. Grinning confidently at each other, they fell into silence, both content to go over ideas and strategies and ensure that they were ready. They'd only have one shot at this, and they'd be damned if they weren't going to do it right.

...

"Everyone, we'll be reaching the alignment point in five minutes." Wade stated as everyone entered the bridge, scanning each of their firm faces as they nodded. "Remember guys, this will be tricky. If you guys leave too soon, the smoke and debris won't be able to cover your entrance and if you leave even a second too late, the flames will consume you. In addition, countless Heartless may get destroyed, but more will still come and those that survive won't stop, even if it means running into the blast from what I've seen and heard. However, if you get the timing right, you should get into the fortress with relative ease."

"And that's when it becomes really tricky." Ben said dryly, fiddling nervously with the Omnitrix.

"Yes, which is why you'll all need to be at your best." Wade nodded as he stood up, a box in hand. "Which is why you'll need this Kim." He stated, handing her the package.

"What have you got for me this t...my battle suit!" Kim cried, her face lighting up with a huge smile as she pulled off the lid.

"It's fully restored and even enhanced." Wade grinned proudly as Kim dropped the box, holding up the suit and inspecting it closely. "It's force field can withstand three times as much abuse as before and it'll increase your strength a good tenfold."

"You rock Wade!" Kim cheered, hugging the suit to her chest. "I'm going to change right now."

"I'll be back in a few minutes. I'll need to change and armour up too." Danny stated, following Kim back out the door. Raimundo, Roxas and Namine quickly followed a moment later.

"So now they wanna put on a fashion show?" Riku asked, raising a confused eyebrow. "We just rush in with whatever we're wearing. Hell, I once saw Sora charge into battle in his sneakers and a towel."

"Well considering the building with my clothes in it blew up, I didn't exactly have much choice!" Sora cried, blushing heatedly as he stared at the floor, trying to ignore the giggling around him.

"Man, these stories are all either awesome or hilarious. You gotta tell me everything after this is all over." Jake laughed. Ben, Valerie and Bulma could only nod as they chuckled beside him as Sora groaned and hid his face in his hands.

"Don't worry Sora, everyone has embarrassing moments." Kairi said as soothingly as she could, unable to stop giggling herself. "I'm sure the Guardians will give us some hilarious stories about each other when this is all over."

"Yeah, I'll tell you about when Namine caught Gohan starkers on a battlefield. That was hilarious for...everyone else concerned." Ryo grinned with a wink.

...

"We have reached the alignment point. Be ready to evacuate. Repeat, be ready to evacuate." Wade's voice echoed throughout every room through the speakers as the satellite came to a halt.

Slipping her arms through her sleeves, Kim zipped up her suit and clasped her belt firmly around her waist. Taking one last look around her room, she shoved her old clothes into a bag before picking up a box with 'emergencies only' written on the top and ripped off the lid to reveal blue striped, silver laser gun before placing it securely on her hip.

"Xiaolin Armour." Rai said calmly, placing his open palm on his chest as his form glowed sky blue. When the light died down his form was completely covered with his showdown armour. Shifting his shoulders so as to readjust to the weight, he picked up the Sword of the Storm, Blade of the Nebula, Eye of Dashi, Crest of the Condor, Reversing Mirror and the Tangle Web Comb, placing them into his pockets. Wondering how so many artefacts could fit and still not show a single bulge, he completed his collection with one more item: an old fashioned lantern.

Pulling open a hidden door in his room, Roxas grabbed the book of light spells Ben had found in the Null Void and slipped it into his pocket before pulling out the second item. A large, blue bracelet bearing a round stone that Gwen had asked him to keep an eye on. Staring at the rune emblazoning the stone for a moment, he slipped it onto his right wrist before heading out and back to the control room.

Danny zipped up a jump suit very similar to his old Phantom one. However, this one was exactly how his old one used to be before the accident, the white and black colouring reversed and a noticeable absence of his symbol. Fixing his gloves, he reached down and attached a number of ectoplasmic weaponry to his belt, including a retractable, ecto charged staff, the Fenton nine tails and the ghost gauntlets. His eyes glowed green as he exited his room and joined the other three on the way back to the control room.

"Good, you're back." Bulma grinned, ignoring the surprised look on Riku's face and the impressed looks on Sora, Mickey and Goofy's. Apparently team Keybearer wasn't expecting them to come back to heavily loaded. "The satellite's beginning its decent. It won't need any guidance from here, so Wade and I are leaving now. Good luck guys."

"We'll need it just to survive." Dojo shouted fearfully, visibly shaking on Goofy's head, as his eyes whipped from one side of the room to the other, trying desperately to avoid the monitor.

"Don't worry. Worst case scenario, we get out a little too late and have to have the ghosts make us intangible so as not to take much of the blast." Valerie shrugged, shrouded in a veil of confidence.

"This coming from the girl who once wanted to eradicate all ghosts. Myself included." Danny grinned, blushing as Valerie grinned back.

"Hey, a girl can change her opinion." Valerie shrugged. Rai opened his mouth to respond, but it completely flopped as a white and purple figure entered the room.

"Girl, you look great." Kim cried happily, positively beaming as Namine walked into the room.

"Thanks. I didn't think a sundress and sandals would be very good for this mission." Namine grinned sheepishly, blushing under everyone's stares. Her wrist mounted dagger holsters were apparent on her wrists, but her dress had been replaced by the shirt she'd bought with Kim and a pair of loose, knee length purple shorts while her sandals had been exchanged for white and purple sneakers. Needless to say, the new ensemble was much more sufficient for a battle situation.

"Namine, I've never seen a girl look finer." Rai complemented, an approving grin crossing his face.

"Yes, yes, she's beautiful and more battle worthy." Riku said impatiently, crossing his arms. "But can we focus on saving your friends and all of existence now?"

"You better prepare yourselves, you're in for a bumpy ride." Wade agreed, taking Kim's bag from her before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a hug, his confidence disappearing as a whimper left his throat. "Be careful Kim. Everyone. Come back safe."

"It's a promise." Kim nodded confidently, hugging back. "You just do the same Wade."

"Of course. See you when this is all over." Letting go, he gave everyone a last, teary eyed smile before heading out for the hanger, Bulma doing the same as she openly cried.

"Anyone who doesn't come back alive is in a lot of trouble. Remember that." She called over her shoulder, getting small chuckles from the group.

It was with heavy, worry filled hearts that the two geniuses entered the ship and took off. Hiccupping, Bulma could help turning on a monitor to watch the falling satellite.

"Are you sure that they'll be ok?" She asked, sobbing into a handkerchief as Wade flew as far from the satellite as he could, heading towards the now empty Capsule Corp.

"I hope so." Was all he could say.

...

Back at Valour's Light, things were heating up, literally. The hull was had turned red as they broke through the planet's atmosphere and the whole satellite shook like an earthquake, leaving its inhabitants caught between being thrown in all directions or clinging on to red hot surfaces and burning themselves.

"How long do we have to deal with this?" Kairi cried, flinching as her bare shoulder made contact with the hot wall.

"At this speed, we'll be jumping in about five- AAHH!" A particularly strong shake threw Roxas right out of his chair midsentence, sending him on a head first crash course to the ground, only for Sora to jump in and catch him at the last minute, saving him from a good concussion.

"Are you ok Roxas?" He asked, staring down at his blonde duplicate. However, he got no response. Getting worried, he scanned and padded Roxas gently all over, trying to find a wound or something that would explain the weak, dulled expression his eyes had taken. "Roxas, I can't help if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"Sora, move away from him." Mickey ordered, leaping over and gently pulling the blonde away. Confused and worried, Sora hesitantly did as he was told and crawled back. he gasped a few seconds later as Roxas groaned, his eyes regaining their usual focus.

"What hit me?" He asked, perplexed. However, Sora was a little more worried about the blonde's suddenly much weaker stated than his confusion.

"I'll explain later. Right now, we need to get to that exit." Mickey responded, turning pointedly to the others. "We need to be at the hanger bay door in four minutes for this to work in our favour."

"No problem." Danny shrugged, getting a firm hold on a surprised Valerie and Ryo. "Wulf, animals, grab onto everyone and follow my lead." With that he turned himself and his passengers intangible before flying right through the wall, chuckling as Valerie and Ryo let loose confused cries. Ensuring that every person was grabbed, Wulf and the other ghosts quickly followed Danny through, this time getting sighs and thrilled cheers as their passengers were freed from the overheating sensation of hot metal and phased through the solid wall.

"According to the computer, we have exactly one minute to clear out." Mickey called as they came out into one hallway and through the wall opposite them.

"No sweat, Bulma put all the ships into capsules and took them with her." Rai shrugged as he forced Dojo to loosen his hold around his neck. "We can just fly out through the nearest wall.

"You heard him, let's hit it." Valerie cheered, throwing up her fist.

"Yes ma'am!" Danny responded dramatically, earning chuckles from the others as the ghosts picked up the pace. Five grey walls later, they shot straight out of the hull and climbed into the air, ensuring their safety as they watched the satellite descend.

"It's right on course." Kim said sadly, holding back a sob as she watched what had almost been a second home fall right to the Earth. "Right on Maleficent's doorstep."

"It won't actually destroy the fortress, will it?" Ryo asked, his face turning very worried as Gohan and Gwen flashed through his mind.

"I doubt Maleficent will fail to notice this." Mickey responded reassuringly. "And she'll put up a defence to ensure her survival. That's one reason why this idea is so good. we'll be weakening her before the fight even begins."

"Guys, it's about to hit." Kairi called, abruptly ending the conversation. The team's flyers immediately had the ghosts let go at that and grabbed on to the others, ensuring that everyone was ready. By the time the blast started to recede, they had to be ready and shooting straight to their target points. For this to work, their timing couldn't be off by a second.

...

Though Gohan kept up a very firm glare as Maleficent and Pete entered the room, he actually couldn't be happier. Right before the diabolical duo had enter, over two dozen energy signatures had exploded into his senses, many of which he recognised as the other Guardians alongside what had to be ghosts and six people with the air of magic. He didn't have a clue how they got from out of his range to so fast so quickly, but he really couldn't care less. It wouldn't be long before he and Gwen were by their sides once again.

"The time has come young alien." Maleficent sneered as she waved her free hand, creating a semicircle of candles lit with black flames around him in a green flash. "Your kind of power, genetic without a trace of magic, was by far the hardest to find a spell for. But unfortunately for you, the time it's taking the Heartless to find the Keyhole gave me plenty to brush up on my reading with."

"Oh, I can't wait to fly." Pete cheered, jumping up and down excitedly. "It will be so much fun soaring through the sky and breaking buildings with my fists."

"Quiet fool, or I shall give his powers to another." Maleficent snapped, bonking him on the head with her staff and leaving him whimpering submissively.

"And what happens to me when you've drained me dry." Gohan snarled. He had to keep her distracted for as long as he could, otherwise, whatever the others were planning may very well fail.

"I have no revenge plan for you and without your powers, you're of no use to me." She sneered, pointing her staff right at his heart. "On top of that, the darkness in your heart is pitiful. You'd make a pathetic Heartless. That only leaves one option for you. Death, hahahaha!"

Gohan grunted as he glared at the staff, starting to feel very afraid as it lit up. He couldn't stop the slight tremors running through his body as she began to chant. Though he couldn't understand the words, her dark, cruel tone was enough to know that they were anything but pleasant. Unable to handle it anymore, he squeezed his eyes shut just as the light of the staff intensified and just waited for what was certain to be a very painful experience.

However, destiny seemed to feel that he needed a break, for at that moment, a small explosion burst forth right beside the witch, throwing her off completely as Pete let out a terrified scream.

"Hades, what is the-" Maleficent screeched, whipping around and glaring with a face as red as fire.

"Stop playing around with the kiddies witch, we a have a projectile the size of a temple coming right at us." Hades butted in, screaming just as loudly. "If that ting hits us, we're goners."

"WHAT?" Maleficent didn't wait for a response. Within a second, she was already gone, disappearing with a flash of black and green flames.

_A temple sized projectile?_ Gohan thought amazedly, completely thrown for a loop. He didn't think weapons that big even existed, and the launcher would have to be as big as a city block. Besides, even he knew that all the military bases were compromised. The only place it could have possibly come from was...

"I don't believe it." He muttered just loud enough for Gwen to hear it, his face turning pale with shock. It wasn't exactly hard to prevent the villains from hearing him, Pete was having a temper tantrum like spoilt brat about not getting his powers. "That explains how the others are coming so fast, but I just can't believe it."

"Gohan, what is it? What do you know?" Gwen asked, taking deep breaths to try and control her heart rate. As if the situation wasn't stressful enough on its own, now Gohan was adding to the tension. However, her heart almost stopped completely when he uttered his next words.

"It's the Valour's Light Gwen. It's what coming and the others are on it."

That was all he had to say. If the others didn't get out NOW, none of them would survive.

...

Rage, fear and anxiety filled Maleficent's eyes as she appeared on the roof of her fortress, staring unblinkingly at the giant hunk of metal plummeting right for her from the sky. She recognised it as a satellite instantly, having seen many of them before, but why it was falling towards her was baffling. she knew that they existed in this world, but she'd done nothing to touch them and there was no way that it could have been the Heartless. Though they could easily take themselves from one dimension to the next and were completely unaffected by the cold or lack of oxygen, they weren't capable of breaking through gravity at that kind of level.

"So, those kids are smarter than I gave them credit for." She growled, waving her staff as the orb on the end shined like a star. "And willing to sacrifice their friends it appears, but no matter. Even this monstrosity will not touch this place. Forces of evil, shield thy's servants!"

Her spell quickly got to work, but even so, it just barely succeeded, for the second a dark purple force field spread from her staff, the satellite crashed down a mere hundred yards away. Many of the Heartless, who had sensed the hearts that were once within the structure, were instantly crushed as it hit and many more were instantly incinerated as the whole thing blew up, the flames consuming the entire area.

Enshrouded in flames, Maleficent could feel even her force field buckling under the force and intensity. Gasping in horror as she felt it about to pop, she gave up on it completely and whisked herself away in a flash, just avoiding the dying flames that broke through, and reappeared in the throne room, gasping heavily and leaning on her staff for support.

"The Heartless guarding the place have almost all been destroyed!" Hades cried, flaming himself in with a screaming Pete.

"And the blast has knocked down all the shields I placed on the fortress along with your shield." Jafar exclaimed, starting to look worried.

"No...matter." Maleficent puffed, giving up on standing and flopping onto the throne. "I should regain...my strength soon, and even if...we are invaded...Kingdom Hearts' power...will soon be ours."

"Actually, that's another problem." Ursula shouted, rushing into the room as fast as her tentacles would allow on land. "I just checked the progress at the Northern ice caps, and it's actually been reversed. A ship and what looks like a thousand ghosts are there destroying Heartless and recreating all the ice that was dug away. Even with higher numbers, the Heartless are being outmatched by a lack of hearts and solid bodies."

"Oh, this is just terrific." Hade rolled his eyes, clapping his hands sarcastically. "We take the entire world only to get hit hard in the two places that matter the most. And we still have a punch of goodie goodie kiddies unaccounted for. What could possibly be better?"

"They're no longer missing." Maleficent responded coolly, finally calming her breathing. "They're here. I can sense them. All of them and more. Be ready for battle everyone. It's time we crush the head of the opposition. And when we do, we shall crush the ghost rebellion as well."

...

"What a blast!" Jake cried, gaping at the giant, fast moving ball of fire, growing and spreading all around the area. They were still so far up that the Heartless had looked like ants and the flames still reached up to only a few meters away. "There might not even BE any Heartless left outside."

"Just the...ones inside the shield." Kim managed around coughing and spluttering. The flames hadn't quite reached them, but the smoke sure had and unlike Jake and Big Chill and Valerie, the others were struggling just to breathe.

"The flames are receding. Move fast!" Riku shouted in one breath before falling into coughing fit again.

"Elevator going down!" Ben called almost merrily, diving right in with the others right behind him. The smoke and flames were almost nothing more than a memory by the time they reached the ground, just ten feet away from the entrance, leaving each of them sucking in deep, satisfying breaths as they charged, straight towards the remaining Heartless gathering in their way.

"Goofy tornado!"

"Cannonbolt!"

"Crisscross!"

Goofy's tornado move ploughed right through every Heartless in hitting range on the group's right side while Ben did the same as he transformed on the left, both sending every opponent they touched flying away like bowling pins. At the same time, Roxas slashed a good four Heartless in the middle into oblivion as he crossed his glowing Keyblades before the light released from the blades and swirled around him in opposite directions, destroying every foe to approach. Between the three of them, their path was almost instantly clear.

"Something tells me we'll be catching up soon." Valerie stated confidently as they reached the threshold, turning on her board before raising two lasers growing out of her forearms and firing into the mass of remaining Heartless. "Save some butts for me to kick, would ya?"

"We'll try." Danny called as he shot in like a bullet. "But I can't make any promises."

"Be careful Red Huntress." Rai called, turning back to see the ghosts forming a line between the door and Heartless as the rest of the team charged in. Looking back, both Valerie and Wulf gave him a confident wink as the ghosts began biting and slashing the approaching Heartless. smirking back, he gave them a nod and charged in after the others. He couldn't spare them any more time. The battle had begun and if they were going to win, he had to focus solely on his part. With the fate of all worlds on the line, failure was not an option.

Only one thought was crossing any of their minds at that point, whether they were outside blowing apart what remained of a horde or charging in to meet the big guns.

They were going to win. No matter what the cost.


	10. Storm The Fortress

**Storm The Fortress**

"We have a total of five floors to cover before we make it to the others." Danny informed the others as they ran, zigzagging through the winding, endless of corridors like he owned the place. "The first floor is designed to be a maze, the first line of defence, but after that the only resistance will be the big three Heartless and the big guns themselves."

"You sure you're not getting us lost in here?" Dojo asked, whimpering into Rai's shoulder.

"Don't sweat it. I have all my clone's memories up till we made our escape from the satellite." He responded with a grin, tapping his temple. "And he snagged all of Hook's memories and checked the maze out himself. I know exactly where I'm going."

The others just took his word for it and followed. Left, right, right again, left, it seemed to go on forever. Both Riku and Roxas were tempted to just blow holes through the walls, but decided against it. They weren't ready for the bad guys to know their exact location yet.

As they got to a large, open space, what Danny called the halfway point, a small group of Defenders burst up from the ground in their usual fashion, but it didn't even phase the group.

"You and me Roxas." Sora called, grinning cockily as he nodded towards their opponents.

"They'll be gone in five seconds." Roxas smirked back as the two charged ahead of the group. Watching their approach, the Defenders threw up their dog head shields and snarled, their shield arms jerking as they tried to sink their teeth into the boys. However, completely unperturbed, the duo merely leaped right over them, Keyblades appearing while they were still in midair.

"How about a light show? Explosion!" Sora cried, swinging his glowing Ultima blade. Light balls immediately came to life from it, smashing into each Heartless' unprotected back as they circled widely around him.

"I'm in, Light!" Pointing his blades into the air, he released ten light pillars, all of which quickly descended. Five struck the Defenders, knocking them off balance, while the other five landed dead centre into each of Sora's light balls. Upon impact, the balls consumed the pillars and exploded, creating an enormous flash of light.

Watching from the sidelines, even Mickey and the Guardians could only watch on in awe, many of them with their jaws hitting the floor. Not one person there had ever seen the kind of power being displayed at that point. Not even Roxas and Namine's combined abilities released that kind of power. The group had to press against the wall just to avoid it. If it wasn't for the fact that the room was the size of your average football stadium, the light would have decimated them all and probably caused serious damage to the foundation of the place.

"Where did _that_ come from? Sora's not nearly that powerful!" Donald shouted, sinking to the floor as he gaped wide eyed at the boys standing proudly before them, impressed, jealous and a little scared all at once.

"I have no idea." Namine muttered, no less gobsmacked.

"For a second, I thought Roxas had used the Keystone. But it didn't activate." Ben frowned thoughtfully, biting his lip as he rested his chin on his fist.

"What do you mean? What Keystone?" Riku asked, turning from Ben to Roxas and back. "Is this object an extension to the Keyblade or something?"

"No, it's this." Roxas answered, holding up his right wrist and pointing to the rune emblazoned stone. "It's the most powerful member of the charms of Bezel. It enhances all the powers and abilities of the one possessing it tenfold."

"That would explain it then." Kairi shrugged, her voice holding a hint of hastiness.

"Except he didn't use it. It stayed dormant." Ben responded, getting raised eyebrows from the group. "The power released had something to do with Sora and Roxas' union, not an artefact."

"What makes you think that?" Ryo asked, waving his hand at the Keybearers. "Even I know Roxas and, by extension, Sora aren't nearly that powerful. And besides that, how could you possibly know whether or not it did anything?"

"Because that is Ben's natural gift." Roxas answered calmly.

"Huh?" Even Ben was gaping at that one. Roxas almost chuckled at the slack jawed, incredulous looks he was getting from his friends, not that he was surprised by them. he wasn't sure if even Gwen had noticed it.

"What do you mean my natural gift?" Ben asked, getting nods from the others. "My powers have always come from the Omnitrix."

"Ben, do you really think it's possible to be the grandson of possibly the most powerful sorceress this world has ever known and not have at least a speck of magic within you?" Roxas asked, tilting his head and crossing his arms, as if to say DUH! "I noticed it the day I first used my aura spell. You have a spark, a decent one at that, you've just never trained in it. You do use it though. It's the source of your amazing intuition, photographic memory and how you notice miniscule detail. Even now, it's beyond human. If you learnt how to control it, you'd probably find yourself pulling off mental feets that even Gwen and Namine can't do, like premonition and see clearly through glamours and illusions."

"How did everyone miss it then? How did I miss it?" Ben cried, completely thrown off.

"Because you're always using the Omnitrix?" Jake suggested, tapping his cheek thoughtfully. "The signs had probably just been chalked up as a perk to transforming. Plus, you only have a spark. Magical senses probably wouldn't notice it within all the magic you're normally surrounded in, like mine, Gwen's Rai's and Roxas'."

"This is all very interesting, but don't we have a job to do?" Danny growled irritably, snapping everyone back on track. "Come on, we gotta keep moving."

"Oh, right!" The others responded simultaneously, bar Kairi who was tapping her foot impatiently, all of them turning sheepish looks his way as they ran, following him through to the next corridor. Hidden power discussions could wait, they had a world to save.

...

"How the heck did key boy pull that blast off?" Hades muttered, scratching his head curiously as he restabilised himself. With Maleficent recuperating, he'd taken over the observation job with an oval of fire floating in the air and was almost blinded by the light the image within revealed. "That blast was worthy of the seven princesses."

"It is the combination of two extremely unique and near pure hearts that allowed this." Maleficent answered, scowling as the imaged showed both Sora and Roxas side by side, both looking exceptionally proud. "Like the Princesses of Heart, Ventus' heart was one of pure light, but he has also proved to have a control over light far beyond what anyone before him has ever possessed. And Sora holds not only great light, but also a Heart that connects to everyone he befriends, allowing him to tap into the light of others near him. Together, their potential is enormous."

"Then the two of them alone could spell disaster for us!" Pete panicked, his knees shaking. "And they have a small army coming along for the ride!"

"Then we will have to play the oldest trick in the book." Jafar shrugged uncaringly, not even bothering to open his eyes. "Divide and conquer."

"Sounds like fun." Oogie cackled, rubbing what past for his hands together. "I think a little of the Oogie flavour should take care of a good few of them."

"I think I'll go drop a handful too." Ursula smirked, making her way to the door. "Te best of them will keep coming here and beyond. Those that stay behind will be no match for me."

"I think I'll try my hand at this too." Hook added quickly, his voice shaking slightly. "I want payback on the ghost boy and I don't want to be here when the big guns show up. I wouldn't stand a chance with their focus on me."

"To true." Pete sneered, his panic forgotten as he gloated. "They'd flatten you like a pancake in seconds."

"Like you're any better." Hook snarled, his voice quickly shifting to irritated. "You have a mere fur ball where your brain should be. They'd overwhelm you in an instant."

"But his brute strength should be enough to guard the prisoners." Jafar shrugged, interrupting the growing argument. "With such a powerful Heartless guarding the outside of the door, he should be able to provide enough extra protection."

"And I shall make sure our guards devour the rest of this little group." Maleficent said calmly, her eyes glowing as she tracked her minions. "If all goes as planned, they'll never even reach anywhere near this far."

"And even if they do, they'll be tired out and facing the three most powerful forces of evil the world has ever seen." Hades sneered. Cackling away, he watched as the others went to do their part. As far as he was concerned, he'd never have to raise a finger in this fight. Well, maybe just to finish off key boy and blondie.

...

Considering that the whammy Sora and Roxas let loose shook pretty much the entire structure, Danny had given up on the quiet approach and taken to throwing large ecto balls at the walls, cutting the time it takes to get through the maze in half. The result had been a number of sudden attacks from Heartless, however, the hidden guards were quickly destroyed, usually with one slash of a Keyblade.

"We're one wall away from the stairs." Danny called, stopping right in his tracks.

"WHOA- OOPHF!" Without any warning, those close to him, Sora, Riku and Raimundo ploughed right into him and fell to the ground, the others barely skidding to a stop before joining the pileup.

"Oooowwww, guys." Danny groaned, pulling his pounding head out from under Sora's gut, a pained look clear on his face. "Get off of me already."

"Sorry." Sora muttered sheepishly, hissing as he tenderly rubbed his hip when Riku got his knee out of it.

"How about a little warning before you stop next time?" Rai grunted irritably, pulling the ghost boy to his feet. "Serves you right being on the bottom of the pile. You're the one demanding we move at the speed of light in the first place!"

"I know, I know." Danny side, throwing a small blast with one hand and making a hole in the last wall while the other massaged his back. "Sorry, I just thought that it'd be better if I get an update on what's going on up there. "We're moving into far more dangerous territory."

"Well get to it already." Ben cried, throwing his hands about impatiently. "In case you're forgetting, Gohan and Gwen are still up there and with one of these guys being the LORD OF THE DEAD, I doubt a DEAD ARMY can protect this keyhole in the Arctic for long."

"I'm doing, I'm doing!" Danny retorted exasperatedly, closing his eyes tight. Taking a deep breath, he relaxed his body and calmed his mind, reaching out for the hidden part of it connected to his clone. Feeling the fragment of consciousness partially disconnected from his own, he focused down on it and gasped, his whole body tensing as it flooded his head with every memory it had gained since the last sweep before pulling back. Taking another lung full of air, he blew it out slowly and opened his eyes, relaxing his tense posture once again as he focused on the others.

"The next two floors have Oogie, Ursula and Hook in all different places. Hook's there so he'd keep up appearances, seeing as Hook's too much of a coward to stay and fight the most powerful of us, so we'll just get rid of him good and quick. Their plan is to divide us and stall for Maleficent to regain her strength while the big Heartless take out even more of us."

"They expect a few weaker members to stay behind while the rest of us go ahead?" Jake frowned, biting his lip. "They know we're in a very big hurry and are using it against us."

"And they believe that we'll leave a few weaker people behind while our strongest just keep running into their arms." Donald added, frowning irritably.

"Well now that we know, how do we respond?" Namine asked, getting raised eyebrows from the others. "Do we go along with it? Do we all stick together and take them on one at a time? Do we leave one of our strongest fighters to deal with them instead? And most importantly, how far do we intend to go when we say 'take them down'?"

"For the last one, kill them." Roxas answered, the others tensing, hissing and staring in utter disbelief at the coldness of his voice, feeling even more disturbed when they noticed that his eyes were as hard as stone. "As much as we all hate it, they will never stop doing this all over again unless they're stopped permanently and now that they've found this world, as long as they are trying, all of existence is in constant danger. We don't have a choice."

"Well, yeah, but-" Ben cried, deeply opposed to the idea.

"No, he's right." Sora cut in, shaking his head sorrowfully. "I know each and every one of them very well. They're as pure evil as it gets and will never repent. We don't have to kill Pete and we can't kill Hades, but the rest of them..."

"If we can't kill them, we have to seal them away forever." Mickey nodded, pressing his lips together. "And trust me, with the way you'd have to seal them away, most of them would probably prefer to be dead."

"I guess you're right." Kim said forlornly, torn between doing what it takes and her guilt at doing such things and what would eventually happen if she didn't.

"If you can't do it, then stand back and leave it to the rest of us." Riku said coldly, glaring at each of the unsure and appalled faces of both groups before turning to the stairs. Not saying anything else, he headed straight up, a determined Jake, Raimundo, Donald and Goofy behind him. Roxas, Sora and Mickey only hesitated for a moment to look back sympathetically at the others before following them. They knew from the beginning that it would come to this, but they'd stayed quiet. It was plain as day that Kim, Danny, Namine and especially Ben and Kairi would find this difficult and they felt bad for the position that they were in, but they couldn't help it.

"Come on guys." Ryo said softly, placing a reassuring arm around Ben as he smiled at the stragglers. "The sooner this is done, the more lives we save. Just thought of it that way and leave what you're not comfortable with at the back of your mind for someone else to deal with."

"Yeah." Namine nodded, biting her lip as she frowned up the stairs. "For Gohan and Gwen." With that, her face turned fierce and she stepped forward, quickly catching up to the others.

"This is my duty as a Keybearer." Kairi said quietly, following her Nobody.

"Let's go mission mode." Kim said firmly, glaring up the path. "We can just go for therapy when this is over."

Nodding, though hesitant and angry, the others ran up to the leading group. Seeing them catching up, Sora and Roxas offered them sad smiles before everyone took off as again, this time at a much faster pace.

Still growling at what they were about to do, Danny took into the air and back into the lead, scanning the walls for any sign of their opponents or traps. Rai and Jake quickly followed his lead as he pulled ahead, not wanting Danny alone and vulnerable so far from the group. However, while Rai just caught up, Jake hung back, flying low and slow as he moved beside Roxas.

"Roxas, use your aura sensing spell." He exclaimed, moving his wings carefully so as to not hit anyone as he flapped. "It's the only way we can prevent any ambushes."

"But I can't see anything but auras while I'm using it." Roxas cried, cutting off a curious Mickey and Sora's questions. "I'll run into a wall."

"That's why you'll be riding on my back." Jake answered, turning his body invitingly as they turned a corner. Grinning, Roxas took the offer and leaped into the air.

"_Ostendo sum aura, LIGHT"_ His eyes shined bright as he landed right between Jake's wings, altering his vision to white and multicoloured humanoid shapes. Adjusting his hands and legs around the dragon's back, he grinned at Sora awed cry as Jake picked up the speed and soared next to the other flyers.

"There's a really disgusting aura coming up ahead on our right." He called, making sure everyone heard clearly as he scowled distastefully. "And what looks like Danny's aura mixed with another foul one is further head, right in front of us. Must be Hook and the clone."

"He's at the foot of the next staircase." Danny responded grumpily, not really in the mood to talk. "Where are the others?"

"Um, up above us. I can see everyone inside. I can even see the aura of Gwen's magic hidden inside a foul, crappy aura that has to be Maleficent's." Roxas responded, sounding absolutely disgusted by the end. "Seriously, it looks like the sludge you'd find in the bottom of a sewer."

"Do you know who's coming up?" Mickey asked, his Keyblade already flashing back into existence in his hand.

"Judging from the shape, I'd say Ursu- WHOA!" Roxas almost chocked Jake as he suddenly dived and swerved, but the dragon paid it no mind, focusing only on avoiding the inky projectile aimed for his face.

"Why hello my dears." The group tensed as black tentacles swayed from around the corner as Ursula approached, cackling away as she pierced them with fierce, malevolent eyes. "You know, if you wanted to die, jumping in front of a Heartless would have been easier."

"Like you have a chance against all of us." Donald snapped, pointing his comet staff right at her heart. "We'll be serving deep fried octopus in two minutes."

"Oh please!" Ursula waved off uncaringly as swirling, pink magic appeared around her hands. "In case you've forgotten duck, I'm a mistress of magic, not one of those pathetic, damsel in distress chicks that you surround yourself with. Even your magic is nothing on mine."

"Pathetic?" Kairi hissed, Destiny's Embrace appearing in her hand.

"Damsel in distress?" Namine seethed, whipping out both daggers simultaneously.

"Chicks?" Kim growled furiously, her hands glowing blue as she clenched her fists.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" Ursula and the boys barely had time to respond with bugging out eyes as the three girl leapt at the octopus lady with the speed of a bullet. Before they could even blink, three fists had smashed right into Ursula's face. Their combined strength being far greater than Ursula had expected, even her eight legs couldn't stop her from crashing back into the wall before rebounding face down into the ground.

"We've just decide that we'll play this game their way." Kairi stated, the finality in her voice clear for all to hear as she adjusted her hands, this time pointing her blade at the infuriating fish woman.

"We'll show her who's a pathetic, damsel in distress kind of chick." Kim snarled, cracking her knuckles.

"Are you guys sure?" Sora asked, staring worriedly at Kairi in particular. It wasn't that he doubted their skills, it was just that she was new to this and who knows what might show up before they rejoined the group again.

"We're sure." Namine answered, her voice far harsher than any of them had ever heard it before. "Just leave us a trail to follow. See you _really_ soon."

"Stay sharp girls." Roxas called as Jake nodded encouragingly and took off down the hallway, the others following a hesitant second later. Sora and Rai were the last to leave, offering the girls a hesitant grin.

"Be careful." Sora said softly, staring at each of them with care and pride before running off as fast as he could.

"And finish this quick. We don't need you expending too much energy." Rai added with a wink. Chuckling as Ursula raised her red, fist printed and furious face off of the ground, he took off into the air, grabbing Sora under the armpits and giving him a ride till they caught up with the other ground bounds.

Making it to the stairs, glares grew and fists clench again as they saw Captain Hook, but it was short lived, for as soon as he saw them, a Danny Phantom clone, complete with white hair and black jumpsuit, flew right out of his chest and swung around with a punch to the buffoon's face. The poor twit was seeing stars before he even came out of his trance and crashed to the ground, out like a light.

"About time." Clone Danny called, smiling brightly at the approaching crowd. "I was beginning to think that you'd never get here and...hey Danny, trying a new look? It's kinda dull, don't you think? It doesn't even have our symbol." He frowned amusedly, giving his true self a once over. "Though, I have to admit, that load of gadgets connected to your belt has a kick but, taking no prisoners look about it."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll update my fashion sense later." Danny cried impatiently, throwing his hands around wildly in the air. "Just wait here and lead the girls to us when they're done, ok?"

"Yeah no problem." The clone responded with a shrug before turning back to his previous host with a sheepish smile. "Um, maybe I shouldn't have knocked him out just yet, hehe."

The others didn't really care though. They just took off past him and up the stairs, either flying or leaping up as many steps as they could at a time.

"What must be Oogie is close by, straight ahead, but a fair bit higher than us." Roxas exclaimed before closing his eyes with an irritated groan. He couldn't watch auras for long, otherwise he got a hell of a migraine. At this point, he was pushing it a bit too much.

"At the end of this hallway is a large room with a staircase and balcony." Danny responded, sifting through the memories granted to him. "So he must be planning on using the high ground advantage."

"More like staying out of our reach while he pummels us with his toys." Sora scowled, raising the Ultima Blade before him protectively, Donald and Goofy doing the same with their staff and shield. "He's weak and a coward. He relies on gadgets to hurt and wear out his opponents."

"Lousy bag of bugs." Donald muttered as they made it into the room, only to jump back with startled cries as two large fists shot out from what looked like inside the walls and slammed into the ground where they'd stood only seconds before.

"Welcome kiddies, to my beloved nightmare." Oogie shouted over the balcony railing, laughing heartily at the startle and growling teenagers.

Rai however, having been a little further back and in the air, had slipped right past the fists unnoticed and shot high into the air only to come spiralling down at Oogie a second later. Before the bag of bugs could even register it, Raimundo had flown right into his face and ploughed his crossed hands right into what passed for Oogie's neck.

"Argh-whoa!" Grunting painfully at Oogie screaming in his ear, Rai sailed toward the ground with him and, grabbing Oogie's arm before he could hit the ground, landed firmly on his feet, spun Oogie around and sent him flying with a great toss, sending him on a collision course right to the middle of the floor of the lower room.

"OW! Damn it ninja boy! Do you know who you're dealing with?" Oogie growled, pulling himself up sloppily before turning to the monk, glaring up with his arms on his hips. "I'm the-"

"Disgusting, good for nothing bag of bugs." Rai interrupted, leaning on the railing in a completely unimpressed manner. "Guys, I'll have this guy spilling all over the floor with one swipe of my Wudai Weapon. Go on ahead, this won't take long."

"No kidding. Without these contraptions getting involved, blink and you might miss it." Ben shrugged as the group charged, quickly making it up the stairs. That is, except for Goofy and a supersizing Dojo who just set themselves up for battle.

"Rai could do it alright, but it's better if someone watches his back in 'ere." Goofy stated with a grin, readying his shield.

"Yeah, and besides, I wanna roast some roaches while I'm here." Dojo added, snorting a flash of fire from his nose.

"Have fun." Ryo called over his shoulder as the group ran on, not even bothering to look back. they weren't worried in the slightest for them. With only Oogie as their opponent, the three of them fighting was overkill. Confident in what was sure to be a quick victory, they just set their sights on the finding Gohan and Gwen.

Their trek turned easy again for a while. However, that was far from comforting. While they knew one of the three incredibly strong Heartless was guarding the prisoners, it was anyone's guess where the others were. Their nerves only grew even more as Roxas grunted and let the light fade from his eyes as the pain became too much, holding his head in one hand while the other kept him steady on Jake's back. they were going in blind.

"Hey Justiman, doesn't that bucket on your head have a series of scanners?" Ben asked as they rounded another corner, his hand forever fiddling with the Omnitrix at the back of the line.

"Hey, I resent that bucket remark." Ryo cried, annoyance evident in his tone before he bit his lip. "But yes, it does. However, it only seems to work with Heartless at close range. And something about these walls is making it impossible to see through them, even with heat sensors." He added, batting irritably at his helmet.

"They're made by and coated with dark magic." Riku informed them, a look of great distaste on his face. "They're a lot harder to destroy than the ones down stairs and almost impossible to see through. Pure light magic would be about the only thing that'll cut through it without a huge amount of power behind it."

"In that case we might have a problem." Donald called, turning everyone's attention back to ahead of them with his pointing finger. "That is one big door and it's closed. Anything could be behind it."

"Which means that we could be attacked while opening it." Sora summed up, puffing up his cheeks and pouting at the offending stone. "It would take a fair bit to open and a claw or blast could come through it long before we're ready."

"Not a problem." Ben stated, smirking as a hologram came up from the Omnitrix. "Ready Danny?"

"You got it." Danny smirked, his eyes glowing green along with his hands as a green flash consumed Ben.

"Humungosaur!" Quickly growing to his maximum height, smirking at the stunned looks on the Keybearers' and Donald's faces, he threw his open palms into the door as hard as he could, the stone blocks almost falling right off of their hinges as they swung.

Before anything could register with anyone, Danny shot a beam right through the opening. As expected, it was a move that only just saved them, for though there was no form in sight, it was clear that it collided with something just five feet into the room. A few second later, the thing was revealed as a Dark Thorn as it hit the ground and skidded to a halt before climbing back onto its feet.

"Great, another one of these things." Ben growled sarcastically, clenching his fists tight. "And this time there's no trail to follow when it turns invisible. Add it's ferocious fighting style and strength and we've got a problem."

Within a second, it was on them again, starting a fast zigzag before turning invisible again and leaving the team tense, straining their ears for any hint as to where it may be. All that is, except one.

"Justice kick!" His foot glowing, Ryo leapt straight ahead of the group and lashed out with a brutal kick. Time seemed to stand still for a few seconds as a smirk Ryo made contact with the now visible Heartless, his foot firmly planted in the creature's face. As Time returned to normal, the Dark Thorn was sent flying back across the room like a cannon ball, crashing into a huge, black statue of Maleficent.

"Now I'm picking up his signature." Ryo grinned, dropping into an offensive stance as the Guardians watched on with grins and smiles, while Sora and Mickey watched with looks of awe and Donald and Riku went slack jawed. "Does someone want to stay and keep me company, or are you all going to leave this one to me?"

"I'll help ya." Mickey said happily, his Keyblade flashing into his hand as he fell into line beside the cocky hero. "Between us, this won't take any more than five minutes."

"If that." Ryo replied confidently as energy covered his metal hand. "Voltage blade!"

Seeing the Dark Thorn already up and charging again, the duo ran and jumped right at it, parrying its fast moving, sharp as steel claws almost casually with their blades. However, seeing that it was blocking the entrance to the next level, Ryo knocked the right hand away and thrust his voltage blade straight into its chest as hard as he could, making it stumble quite a few feet back.

"Light balls!" Taking advantage of the room Ryo's shot gave him, Mickey swung his arm back and forth from left to right, each time tossing a ball of light from the end of his Keyblade. The Dark Thorn screeched painfully as the balls struck and crossed its arms over its torso, stumbling further back with each shot.

"See you at the big battle guys." Ryo called cheerfully as the others took off towards the large staircase. "Save some of the butt kicking for me, would ya?"

"Something tells me that won't be a problem dude." Jake called back, unable to hide the amusement in his voice as he flew by.

Giving the dragon a smirk as he flew by, Ryo turned his attention back to the creature before him. After all, first thing's first and this hideous monstrosity was recovering from the last attack very quickly.

_First this creep goes down, then Maleficent follows._ The same thought crossing their minds, Ryo and Mickey charged in once again, determined to stop the Dark Thorn before it gained any momentum.

...

Heartless appeared all over the place up on the final floor and none of them were small. Defenders, centaurs, or Assault Riders according to Donald, Fat Bandits, Gargoyle Warriors and Luna Bandits made up the bulk of them. however, the group continued on unperturbed, running right through as Donald unleashed his mighty comet spell, releasing what looked like a barrage of fireworks all over the place, while Roxas' Event Horizon and Sora's Explosion spells took care of the survivors. They got a little worried when giant ball shaped Heartless in blue armour appeared firing ice blasts from their blind spot, but a pair of flamethrowers from Jake and Ben, aka Swampfire, easily dealt with the problem.

Seeing a flash of purple up ahead of them, Riku leaped right at the approaching Gargoyles with Danny flying right behind.

"HIYA!"

"BYE BYE!" Riku slashed straight down and through one Gargoyle's head before spinning his body and cutting another one in half, cleanly destroying both, while Danny tossed an ice lance from each hand, running both of the others right through the chest before throwing two ecto balls the size of baseballs at the new holes. Upon reaching the targets, the balls instantly detonated, destroying both Heartless in a flash if black and bright green.

"They have millions of these things at the North Pole. How many more can there be around here?" Danny exclaimed, furrowing his brow at the black wisps of defeated enemies blocking out the walls of the room.

"Considering how close we are to the end of this place? Not too many more, aside from the big two we still haven't found." Riku answered, his frustration evident in his voice. After all, Maleficent, Jafar and Hades were all on this floor and all of their minions were put in position to stop them from getting that far. If the Kurt Zisa was guarding the two missing teen heroes, where was the Hunter of the Dark?

"Hey Danny? Which way do we go?" Roxas asked, pointing ahead. With the wisps fading away, he could clearly see a T crossing. Walking up to it only made him scratch his head in further confusion as both corridors looked exactly the same and very long.

"Umm." Danny said softly, biting his lip and frowning as he searched his memories before pointing to the right. "That way leads to Gohan and Gwen. The other one leads to Maleficent's throne room, where the big three are."

"With the Hunter of the Dark probably right in front of them." Riku scowled, glaring down the left passage. "It's possibly the most powerful Heartless of all. They're only born in the world of Darkness."

"That doesn't matter right now." Ben stated firmly, already heading towards the right passage. "We'll need Saiyaman and Lucky Girl for the final battle anyway and I'd rather get them out of their defenceless position before Maleficent or whoever tries to use it against us. Let's go."

"Yay, we're on our way. Through another corridor that looks exactly like the others." Jake muttered sarcastically as they ran or flew, keeping his eyes and ears sharp for any more opponents. "Seriously, has Maleficent ever heard of an interior decorator?"

"Hey, she's an evil witch." Roxas responded as lightly, offering his scaling friend a cheeky smile. "Dull, dreary and creepily similar are her idea of an astounding decor."

"All it's missing are the spider webs, and I'm sure they'll be up within a week." Sora added amusedly. "You know, if we weren't going to blow this place sky high when we're done here."

"Alright already." Riku snapped, growling in his aggravation, his patience wearing thin. "You guys can post a what's hot, what's not letter in the paper when we're done! For now, can you actually try being serious? The real battle hasn't even begun yet, we need our wits about us!"

"Well _sorry_!" Roxas snarled, fixing Riku with a dark glare. However, he did do as Riku asked as he turned his attention to Danny. "So what are we looking at here?"

"We take the right at the end of the hallway, then the first left and that will take us into a large room where we'll find a oversized, over armed, snaked headed bandit thingy." Danny answered. "After that, there's a small door that lead to the room holding our friends."

"Then when we get there, you go right through to the others and get them out while we deal with this nightmare monster." Ben ordered, getting confirming nods from the others. "Let's make this as quick as possible. The quicker this goes and the less energy we expend, the better."

Reaching the end, Ben activated the Omnitrix and transformed into Rath, readying himself for what was to come. It turned out to be a wise call.

For just as they made it to the left turn, a pair of blades, each bigger and longer than a full grown man, surged out of the doorway, aiming straight for Ben and Riku.


	11. Tricky Trio

**Tricky Trio: The Tentacles, The Bugs and The Thorns**

"You DARE you lay a finger on me?" Ursula screeched, the fist marks on her face being camouflaged as her face turned red with rage as she got back on her tentacles. "By the time I'm done with you, your heads will be mounted on my wall!"  
>"That's just gross and creepy." Kairi snapped, heading straight in for a vertical slash, only to gasp and jump away into a roll as Ursula spat ink her way. "And seriously, spitting ink? Are you sure you're not a man with a pudgy body?"<p>

"YOU INSUFERABLE BRAT!" Ursula roared, raising her hands over her head as pink, swirling magic came to life around them. "YOU DIE FIRST!"

Thrusting her hands down harshly, Ursula let loose a pink vortex right for the Keybearer, and screamed in blind fury as a light ball came out of nowhere and collided into it halfway, cancelling out the attack with a bang.

"Don't forget we're here." Namine hissed. Scowling, Ursula barely had time to twist her body aside as Namine moved in with a slash, only to have to lean back as the blond spun on her foot and lashed out with the other. However, her scowl turned into a sneer as one of her tentacles whipped up and latched itself around Namine's wrist.

"Wanna go for a ride blondie?" Chuckling, Ursula swung the shocked blond right off of her feet and right into a charging Kairi's side.

"ARGH!" Their sides ploughing together, the two crashed to the ground three feet away in a bundle of limbs, though luckily, their sharp, pointy instruments had fallen haphazardly around them, sparing them from harm.

"And here I thought you actually might be a challenge." Ursula sneered, gathering her magic again as the girls struggled to get up.

"Oh, we are." Ursula's eyes widened in horror as she realised her mistake. The magic around her hands disappeared as she keeled over, gasping and gagging, all due to a white clad foot planted right below her breasts.

Not stopping there, Kim grabbed one of her flailing tentacles and, with a might heave, swung her right around her before tossing the fish lady with all of her enhanced strength.

"ARGH-OOF!" Crashing into the ground, Ursula kept on rolling along until her back slammed into the wall. Snarling with rage and spitting up blood, she forced herself to an upright position as her eyes focused on Kim.

"So, you're different from the other two." She commented, glaring venomously at the fierce looking red head. "Stronger and more experienced. I'll keep that in mind."

"It's not just me that you'll have to watch out for." Kim snapped back, dropping into her favourite offensive stance. "I assure you, the three of us are more than you can handle."

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Ursula scowled, her magic swirling around her hands again. "I admit that you're good, but you're still no match for ME!" With that, two pink, magical spirals were flung right at Kim at a speed most humans couldn't hope to avoid.

Kim however, was no ordinary human, as was proven when her reflexes kicked in and jumped into the air. The enhanced jumping capabilities the suit gave her made it easy to reach even the ceiling of this place and pushing off of it as hard as she could with her hands; she shot right back down with a flying kick.

Ursula proved to be faster than expected too, for she quickly swerved out of the way of the kick and retaliated, swinging two of her tentacles to ensnare the teen. Glaring at the change, Kim twisted her body on the way down and grabbed hold of the tentacles before using them to swing herself out of harm's way, landing safely on her feet a good two meters away from Ursula before rolling aside as to avoid Ursula's inky response to her actions.

_She is much more talented than I expected. This could be a problem._ Ursula frowned, biting her lip as she tossed pink ball after pink ball at Kim only for the teen hero to create a force bubble and block them all. _If I don't finish this quick, she might defeat me._

"I'm ending this now my dear." She spat, raising her arms up above her head, her hands poised to use her magic again. Smirking, Kim prepared for what she considered would be another easy dodge, however, her expression quickly changed to one of fear as a huge torrent of water came out of nowhere and surged right for her. Doubting that her force bubble could withstand the constant strain of such speed and pressure, she leaped to the side, only to gasp as a sneering Ursula change the water's direction after her. Getting desperate, she kicked off the wall and into the air with so much force that it gained a whole web of deep cracks as she soared towards the far end of the room, but with a quick twist of Ursula's hands, the water was turning cleanly after her again. Biting her lip, Kim spun her body around and crossed her arms over her head and chest as her force bubble appeared. With nothing else to rebound from, all she could do was prepare for what promised to be a devastating blow.

"KIM!" Namine cried, scooping her daggers up as she and Kairi leapt to their feet and ran into the fray.

Ignoring Ursula completely, Kairi ran straight towards the rushing water, pointing her Keyblade straight into the air. "I really hope this works. BLIZZA!" Aiming right in between the torrent and Kim, she fired a large blue, frosty ball into the air, gnawing nervously on her lip as it rose.

When a small chiming sound was the only thing that hit her, Kim opened confused green eyes and smiled at the sight before her. More than half the water was frozen and stationary before her, the rest freezing over long before it could reach her.

"That little bi-ARGH!" Ursula's furious rant was quickly cut short as a nice chunk of skin was cut off of her hip. Jerking away from the source of her pain, Ursula had just enough time to see a flash of blond hair and simply vicious blue eyes before a bright light blinded her.

"Light Palm!" The magic coated palm smashed right into the side of her head send her crashing hard and dazed to the floor, stars decorating her vision.

"Watch your language, you overweight, old hag." Namine snapped, unnerving Kim and Kairi as they reached her side. It was still very nerve wracking to see such a dark, fierce look on Namine's calm, sweet and gentle face.

"S-so the little light witch can fight after all." Ursula gasped, glaring with venomous rage. "YOU WILL PAY FOR RUINING MY BEAUTY!" She roared, crashing her fists together and releasing the biggest magical blast yet.

"WHAT BEAUTY, YOU HDEOUS CRONE!" Namine screamed right back, throwing her glowing palms out before her as the others panicked and jumped out of the line of fire. Namine however, was completely unperturbed as the magical stream crashed into her hands, only skidding a few inches back before locking her arms in place and stabilising her footing.

"Impossible!" Ursula cried, looking on in disbelief as Namine stood firm, not giving another inch despite the constant intensity of the attack. She barely noticed as the redheads rushed her on either side of her beam, but still managed to shoot ink at Kim while a couple of tentacles lashed out at Kairi.

Not missing a beat Kim jumped and flipped right over the beam, easily avoiding the ink spray, and land on one knee right before Kairi, placing her hands down just as the Keybearer reached her. Jumping straight onto Kim's hands, she leaped again, this time using Kim's strength to rise a good ten feet, and flew right over Ursula, easily avoiding her tentacles. Upon landing behind her, Kairi wasted just enough time to stabilise herself before spinning around and lashing out with a horizontal slash at Ursula's back.

Ursula's blast ended abruptly as an agonised scream left her throat, her upper body jerking back in a futile attempt to get away from the source of her pain. With her guard down and her blast ended, Kim had no problem rushing right in, unleashing a flurry of punches all over Ursula's body.

"arg-oof-aah-argh!" Ursula could barely get a sound out before the next punch fell as everywhere from her head to halfway down her tentacles screamed in pain. It wasn't until a solid twenty punches had made contact that the octopus lady was able to gather enough concentration to retaliate. Waiting just until Kim was about to throw another punch, she spat up another ink spray, only this time it managed to hit its target. More specifically, Kim's eyes.

"AAHH!" Crying out at the stinging sensation, Kim couldn't help losing her concentration, breaking off her attack as she rubbed at the ink with her sleeve. Taking advantage of her distress, Ursula grabbed her with both of her arms and squeezed, piercing her flesh with her razor like nails. "AARRGGHHH!" Kim couldn't stop jerking and writhing as the nails dug deeper into her flesh, blood pouring down her arms and chest from the wounds.

"Kim, hang on!" Kairi called, rushing in, only to be forced to duck and roll as two tentacles whipped out her way. fed up with the damn things and intent on helping Kim, Kairi pulled out of her roll onto all fours before lurching forward, slashing right through both of the still raised tentacles as she passed them and cutting them right off.

"AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!" The resulting scream almost shook the whole fortress down as Ursula fell to the ground on top of Kim, writhing in agony so much that she almost suffocated the Guardians', arguably, greatest martial artist, her detached tentacles landing right beside her as the others moved protectively around the stumps.

"Enough of this." Kim's words were barely recognisable, being muffled by Ursula's overly large chest, as she thrust her arms up to Ursula's shoulders. With a mighty push, she sent the still wailing fish lady up into the air just far enough so that she could curl her legs up by her chest, she sprung both of her feet right into Ursula's gut as she came back down, the suit releasing a very clear flash of blue at the point of contact. Ursula would have screamed even louder than before as she flew through the air, but the blow that had left very deep, feet shaped indents in her stomach had left her winded, only allowing a choking sound to leave her throat.

Namine had already set herself in the perfect position before Ursula even began her descent. Her training alongside Kim had made predicting her actions second nature to Namine, even without telepathy, leaving her with a very confident idea as to where Ursula was going to land. Narrowing her eyes coldly, she tightened her hands around her daggers for what would be the final shot.

She knew that Kairi and Kim were still very hesitant to kill. If it was left to them, Ursula would most likely get away. Namine however...she may not like it, and would try to find other ways of dealing with these guys when she could, but when there was no other option, there was no hesitation.

As Ursula made it to three feet above the ground, Namine made her move. Jumping just above the octopus, lining up with her front side, she spun her body as fast as she could and lashed out with two deadly horizontal slashes, both of which hit home, slashing deeply through her chest.

Her job done, Namine couldn't hold the cold look anymore and turned away. Though she could end someone's life if need be, she still hated it and couldn't watch as the light left Ursula's shocked eyes as she let out her final gasp.

The body crashed into the ground with a loud thump and skidded along before finally stopping. Blood quickly pooled from the wound around the motionless form as Kim and Kairi stared, slack jawed as shock took over. They couldn't believe what they saw. Of all of them, sweet, gentle Namine was the last one either of them thought would be taking Ursula's life.

"Let's go." Namine said quietly, her quivering voice breaking the others from their stupor. Both redheads' faces turned worried at that. They'd been so shocked by what she'd done and how cold she'd looked while doing it that they hadn't noticed how shaken she really was. "There's nothing else to do here." With that, she ran off after the others as fast as she could, tears falling from her clenched eyes.

"Oh Namine." Kairi sighed, watching the blond sadly as she followed her. Kim could only nod as she followed, worry and guilt eating her. They knew that Namine was hurting over what she'd done, but they didn't have the time to console and comfort her. It just didn't sit well with either redhead. Frowning at the ground, both Kim and Kairi doubled their pace. The sooner this was all over, the sooner they could sooth Namine.

...

The battle with Oogie was proving to be a lot more difficult than either Rai or Dojo had expected. True to their warning, Oogie set off trap after trap, mostly giant, fast moving fists, bombs and floor to ceiling iron bars, all of them appearing from out of the seemingly untouched walls, floor and ceiling.

"And here I thought those walls were solid and immobile." Raimundo grunted, back flipping just in time to avoid a flying fist only to slam his back into a set of bars. Growling, he flew straight up into the air before a cage could form around him only to cry out as he got caught in the tail end of an exploding bomb and blown to the ground.

"YIKES!" Of all three, Dojo was doing the most damage, but he was also having the most difficulty. His large body proved useful, giving him all the strength he needed to leave more than one fist lying brokenly on the ground with simple bites or whips of his tail, but it also made him a huge target. Weaving left, dipping down only to make an abrupt turn up to the right, he was barely dodging the falling bombs. He was so preoccupied with them, he never noticed as a stone wall shot up before him and smashed right into it.

"Ouch!" His face flattened against the stone, his voice came out as a squeak as he plummeted right towards the ground.

Goofy however, wasn't having too much of a problem. He couldn't get in close enough to attack, but he'd managed to cut off Oogie's attempts to retreat and hide plenty of times with a toss of his shield. On top of that, it was almost like he was predicting exactly when each booby trap would launch at him and dodged it cleanly while still easily avoiding the one after. Although, a lot of it did seem to be dumb luck. More than once, he'd trip over his own feet or a piece of debris while dodging one trap and ended up stumbling, rolling or flying clear from the second.

"This is getting messy." Goofy commented, frowning at the piles of metal and burnt stone as he pulled himself back up from another tumble roll. Spotting his shield laying at his feet, he bent down to pick it up just in time to avoid a barrage of arrows that were aimed for his head. "Ok, what's next?"

"Would you three hold still!" Oogie cried, stomping away like a two year old in a temper tantrum. "How am I supposed to kill you if you keep bouncing around?"

"That's the point. You're not." Raimundo snapped, cartwheeling in midair as he avoided a fist and a giant palm right after the other. Grinning as he finally found an opening, he went to clap his hands together. "Typhoo- AAHH!" Before he could even get halfway through the move, chains burst forth from walls with the speed of bullets and wrapped tightly around his arms before jerking them harshly out to his sides.

"Got one!" Oogie cheered, dancing gleefully as he held up a remote. "Now say bye bye you little pest." With that and a cackle, he hit a red button and pointed it to the ceiling. Hearing what sounded like a trap door opening above him, Rai whipped his head up and dropped his jaw in mortal terror as a good ten bombs the size of his head dropped right down towards him.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH! Someone, HELP, HELP, HELP!" Screaming his head off with blind panic, he almost dislocated his arms as he yanked and twisted wildly, trying desperately to get free. However, no matter what he tried, the chains just wouldn't budge. It was like they were made of diamond.

"Hang on Rai! I'm a comin!" Spinning as fast as he could on the balls of his feet, Goofy chucked his shield as hard as he could before watching with baited breath as both it and the bombs drew closer to their targets. However, he didn't get the chance to see how successful he was, for at that moment an open hand flew down and slapped him into the ground.

Fortunately, the shield's trip was successful, leaving Rai letting out a huge, relieved smile as it cut straight through the chain holding his right wrist. Not having the time to gather much energy, he thrust his free hand to the side and released a jet of wind, giving him the propulsion he needed to swing into the clear and sending the lowest bombs flying in the opposite direction.

"Man that was close." He sighed, wiping the sweat off his forehead as the heat of the explosions rushed past his body. Pulling out the Blade of the Nebula, he slashed through the other chain before using it to deflect a group of razor sharp boomerangs and a pumpkin riddled with daggers.

"DAMNIT! Why don't I ever get a break?" Chucking his tantrum again, Oogie went nuts with the remote, slamming what passed for his hand on every button at once again and again.

Shaking the stars from their eyes, Dojo and Goofy had just enough time to drop their jaws and scream before falling into an almost dancing motion. Fists, bombs, sharp projectiles, even what seemed like solid square blocks of the walls were flying in all directions. Unable to get his shield, Goofy had his hands over his head the whole time, taking more than one blow to the shoulder or leg as he stumbled blindly around.

"WHOA!" Stumbling over an old bomb shell, he fell onto his hands and knees just as a giant palm swung from behind, right into his backside "YEEEAAAOOOWW!" His hands moved to his smarting butt as he flew right across the room through the air.

With all the attacks, Dojo deemed the air to dangerous and stayed low to the ground, weaving like a snake through the pounds and explosions, screaming all the way.

"AAHH!" His eyes went huge with fear as a fist flew his way, not noticing it until it was too late to dodge. Acting simply on instinct, he took a deep breath and created a ball of fire between his teeth before releasing a flamethrower. The flames crashed right into it and blew it apart with ease, leaving a very relieved Dojo wiping sweat from his eyes...and flying head first right into a barred cage.

"OW!" He cried, rubbing the quickly swelling bump growing on his head as the last cage wall shot up behind him, sealing him inside. "Oh please!" He drawled, looking around completely unimpressed. "Do you really think such a lousy trap could hold me?" He called cockily, sticking his tongue out at the animated potato sack.

"Long enough for me to do this yeah!" Oogie screamed, hitting his remote again before a giant slingshot appeared out of nowhere and shot a very large bomb right for the suddenly chalk white dragon.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Raimundo, Goofy and even Oogie flinched violently and had to cover their ears as Dojo's scream put all others, even Jack Spicer's to shame. Shrinking to his normal size, the green reptile slinked right through the bars and threw himself as far from them as possible, screaming just as loudly again as the bomb exploded behind him, resulting in a push from its shockwave.

Aiming straight for Oogie, Raimundo bobbed, weaved and deflected every assault sent his way. Growling irritably as he dodged a battering ram only for it to knick his blade and rip it from his hand, he jumped and spun around a trio of lances flying up from the ground and landed right in an untouched area.

"Hey, who said you could get that close?" Oogie cried, shaking a little before running away again, heading straight up the stairs. Not willing to let him get away again, Rai flew up towards the balcony.

"Wudai, St- Gaah!" Once again, his concentration was completely cut off as an enormous pendulum swung his way, forcing him to spiral upward. Hissing at a very painful stinging sensation as it managed to slice off a chunk of skin from his leg on the way past, he forced the water from his eyes away and dropped onto the balcony, putting as much weight as possible on his right, uninjured leg.

"Hey! Who said you could cut me off?" Oogie shouted, coming to a halt halfway up, his hands on his hips as he stared scoldingly at Raimundo.

"Aren't you even smart enough to come up with a new line?" Rai retorted, flinging his arms up for a clap. "Typhoo-"

Once again Oogie cut him off, only this time it was by jumping right at him, forcing Rai to cartwheel to his right to avoid it. Flinching as his injured leg took on too much weight, he leaned to his right to avoid a punch before knocking Oogie's arm right out to his side with his own. Taking advantage of the huge opening the simple move gave him, Rai lashed out with a kick only for Oogie to wobbly twirl out of the way and throw another punch for Rai to block with his forearm.

_Wow, he's actually got a little, actual fighting talent._ Rai frowned, blocking another punch and the deflecting the next before dropping down and launching a sweep kick only for Oogie to jump over it and into a body slam, forcing Rai to roll away before lashing out with his foot to block another punch. _He's keeping up his assault on me because he knows I have too much power for him to handle and that I need a few seconds to focus it. So how can I finish this?_

Flipping over Oogie's shoulders as the sack tried throwing two punches at once, he twisted his body so as to propel off of Oogie's back far enough to unleash a whirlwind when something in the rest of the battle caught his eye.

Goofy was already back on his feet, rubbing his backside as he almost casually stepped around, or goofily rolled under, every projectile coming his way, only showing excessive force and exertion when walls and iron bars appeared before him to smash them apart and out of his way.

Dojo was acting very similarly, rapidly changing his size to better suit the situation. He was only getting violent and complex with his movements when he was surrounded.

_You always have to make every move as affective as you can with as little exertion as you can._ Goofy's voice echoed in his head as he pushed off Oogie, making sure that the bag of bugs would stumble from the force. _I should have thought of that before._ He grinned, lightly smacking his head. _Oogie Boogie is a weakling. I don't need a cyclone to stop him. Heck, with his toys around, I can end this with one little move._

Noticing a soft clattering coming from the ground beside him, Rai looked at his feet and smirked as the remote came to a stop not an inch from his toes.

"Perfect. Hey sock head, what do you say to a bug barbeque?" He called as Oogie pulled himself to his feet, his smirk growing victorious.

"A WHAT? How dare you ask me something like that! do you know who I AM?" Oogie shouted, glaring furiously at the ninja garbed monk.

"Yeah." Rai replied cockily, kicking the remote into one hand while the other was pointed right at a suddenly horrified Oogie Boogie. "A pathetic bag of bugs. Wind!"

The gale wasn't very strong comparatively, just enough that it could have carried a couple of teenagers along with it. But that was more than enough. Screaming, Oogie crossed his arms over his face and tried to stand his ground only to be swept up and away like a candy wrapper in an updraft. Watching him rise, Rai only waited until he was close to the ceiling before pointing the remote above his foe and pressing the red button.

"OH NOOO!" Oogie could only scream in terror as he watched the ceiling open up again and drop four bombs. Right on him.

BBBBOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM! "AAARRRGGGHHH!" His screams were the only indication that he was there as the bombs blew, consuming him in flames and even they were quickly snuffed out. As the flames receded and died a few seconds later, it was to find nothing more than ash and burnt bugs raining down on the ground.

"Well, there goes a very...pathetic, but extremely annoying enemy." Rai sighed, watching as the last of Oogie's remains fell to the ground. His heart hurt a little as he stared at what passed for Oogie's corpse, but not nearly as much as he thought it would. Lulling it over as his friends pulled themselves out of the now immobile traps and weapons, he figured that it was most likely because of what Oogie was. He wasn't human or anything even close to an animal. He was just an animated potato sack with bug stuffing. He wasn't even sure that the thing was really alive to begin with.

"It seems Oogie's still using his usual tricks. And still being defeated by them too." Goofy chuckled as he climbed the stairs, snapping Rai out of his thoughts. "He never did think these plans of his through very well."

"Yeah, they were tougher than he was." Dojo agreed, ignoring the stairs in favour of flying up and handing Rai his Wudai weapon before shrinking and landing on the monk's shoulder. "I could have beat him with one flamethrower if I could have gotten a clear shot."

"Yeah, he wasn't much. But he knew how to level the field." Rai responded, before turning a thankful smile to Goofy. "Fortunately, a very wise person taught me that I don't always need my full power for my attacks to be at their most effective level. Thanks Goofy."

"Aww, ya makin me blush." Goofy chuckled, rubbing his nose modestly. "But ya very welcome. Now what do ya say we go catch up to the others?"

"Yeah, let's go." Rai nodded, turning his back on the wreckage and ash that he was leaving behind. Floating into the air so as to give his leg a reprieve, he wasted just enough time to let Dojo place a gauze and bandage on it before taking off above Goofy. With Oogie now gone, and Ursula at least down for the count with the girls taking care of her, Rai could feel his confidents growing. There were only three villains left and if Maleficent, Jafar and Hades were working equally with people that weak, maybe this would turn out easier than he thought.

...

Back flipping from a swipe of the Dark Thorn's long, red claws, Ryo gasped as the grey, pointed metal at the end of its broken shackles struck his helmet, knocking him off balance and stumbling away as he landed on his feet. Noticing his vulnerability, the Dark Thorn pressed its attack, swinging the full length of his arm at the dizzy hero.

However, Mickey leapt right in before he could even get halfway, leaping in with an aerial somersault before crashing his Keyblade into its claws and knocking the hand out wildly to its side. Unperturbed, the Dark Thorn jabbed with his other arm only for Mickey to jump onto it before jumping over the creature's head as it tried to pierce him with its horns. Using it's spikes of a mane as monkey bars, he swung himself safely down behind the beast and leaped straight in again, slashing at the back of its knee. Growling, the Heartless collapsed onto one knee, unable to stabilise itself with all its weight already having been thrust forward.

"How about some payback, you Halloween reject!" Ryo shouted, jumping high into the air before bringing down his enlarging, glowing palm. "Thunderclap!"

Still shifting itself back onto its feet, the Dark Thorn completely failed to dodge the attack. Ryo's hand slammed right into the back of its neck as the powerful shockwave was released and blew the dark beast crashing into the ground, smashing the stone floor and burying it in the rubble. Not done yet, Ryo jumped over it and to its feet, grabbed the chain connecting them before it could stand and started spinning as fast as he could, giving Mickey just enough time beforehand to duck low to the ground. Building up speed, he kept going around and around until the entire room was a blur to him, quickly growing dizzy again.

The Heartless however, definitely was not. It took a bit of time, but its senses and violent nature reappeared pretty soon. Growling furiously, unable to lash out with its arms or horns, it resorted to kicking wildly, its red claws twisting inward.

"Grr." Growling and hissing under his breath, Ryo leaned back and thrust his head back as the kicks got close. It was only the sudden movement that had stopped them from slitting his throat. "Time to fly ugly!" Spinning around one more time, he swung his arms as hard as he could and gave the beast a toss, sending it sailing right across the room and crashing into the wall, half its body going through it.

"Gosh. That sure was impressive." Mickey said, staring in awe as the Heartless tried to get up only to slip on the rubble around it. "I've never seen someone wield so much strength. Other than Hercules, but he's a half God."

"Yeah, it was good, but no that impressive. Gohan and Ben are much stronger than me." Ryo shrugged, shaking his head clear of the vertigo before dropping back into an offensive position. "And you should see what they can do when they transform into a giant ape and what Ben called Way Big. Either one would crush this guy like a bug. Along with everything else." He added lightly, seconds before the Dark Thorn got fed up and threw his claws through the walls, breaking them like glass with a huge BOOM and sending debris hurtling right for the duo.

Mickey had no problem with it, easily jumping on large block after large block as he zigged and zagged his way towards the Heartless while Ryo tailed behind. Not as small or agile as the royal mouse, he had a little more difficulty, but wasn't really phased, he just smashed his fist through whatever he couldn't avoid as he headed on his way.

Seeing this, and already raging, the Dark Thorn released an ear piercing bellow as Mickey got right in his face and leaped right back at him.

Startled by the move, Mickey's flight instinct kicked in and he quickly spun himself away from the swiping claws and through the heart shaped hole in its chest, landing on his feet behind it.

"This thing sure is quick for something so big." Ryo commented, lashing out with a spinning kick only to propel away from the Heartless as it swung its head like a bull, cancelling the kick out with his horn. "And man, if those horns were any harder, I'd swear they were made of diamonds. That actually hurt my foot."

"It's getting fiercer the longer this fight goes on." Mickey said, gnawing at his lip as he watched the Dark Thorn claw at Ryo again, wincing at his cry as he brushed against the beast's prickly thorns in his escape. "We have to end this before it gets any worse."

"No arguments here." Ryo nodded, taking in a few deep breaths as he landed next to the humanoid rodent, dropping onto his knees as he rubbed his thorn pierced side. "Man, I think today's made it clear that I don't have a green thumb."

"Then let's...uh-oh!" Mickey cried, sucking in a deep breath as he turned to the disappearing Dark Thorn. His brow managed to be completely drenched as the second it took the Heartless to lose its visibility passed in slow motion. In a stone room with no dust or any other ways of tracking it, the Dark Thorn's invisibility would make it almost impossible for him to touch it. Straining his ears didn't do him any better. The sounds the Heartless made were bouncy around the empty room and walls, causing an echo. The mouse king had no way of finding his enemy.

"Mickey, don't worry." Ryo said softly, placing a reassuring hand on Mickey's head and grinning down, trying to get the panicked and stiffening mouse to relax. "My helmet's already picked him up. Just listen to me and this won't cause a...hold that thought."

Grunting, Ryo flung his metal arm up the second the dark shape in his scanner's screen flew forward, just barely managing to block the claws coming down on his head.

Unphased by Justiman's move, the Dark Thorn was off again as quickly as it came, jumping and skidding around them at high speed before thrusting his claws straight at them from behind. Unprepared for the increased level in speed, Ryo barely had time to grab Mickey and dive belly first into the ground before they'd both have had three long claws piercing their spines.

"Where's all this speed coming from?" He cried as it crossed it's arms and swung at them again, just missing as the two rolled off in opposite directions before springing to their feet, Keyblade and metal arm out defensively before them.

"Can you keep up with it?" Mickey asked, narrowing his eyes as he whipped his head from left to right, looking for any sign on his target.

"Yeah, but you'll have to move the second I tell you to." Ryo responded, back flipping as his scanner revealed a dark flash. This time, Ryo was more prepared for the speed and smirked as his heel struck it just below the elbow, throwing it a little off balance. "Strike!"

Mickey didn't need to be told twice. He was up in the air within the blink of an eye, a ball of light the size of a cannonball shining in his free palm.

"Pearl!" Throwing it as hard as he could at where Ryo had been standing only seconds before, he grinned as it exploded seemingly in midair, eliciting a roar from the beast before it regained visibility, crashing into the ground. Not stopping there, he swung his Keyblade around and around over his head, gathering more and more light into it as the Dark Thorn pulled itself back to its feet.

"Justiman move! Meteor Streak!" The cry was all Ryo got, as with one more spin, Mickey spun the Keyblade out to his side and whipped its point right in line with the Dark Thorn. The gathered light flew straight from it streaked through the air like a shooting star, crashing into the Dark Thorn's head and throwing it a good distance through the air, its foot only missing Ryo by a hair as it flew over his ground pressed form and ploughed into a pillar.

"Whoa! Now that's power." Ryo exclaimed, ditching his helmet to rub his eyes, blinded by white spots. "Not even Roxas has done anything that intense on his own before."

"Roxas holds far more light magic than I do and is a prodigy at wielding it, but he doesn't have the experience that comes with being a Keyblade Master yet. Even he will need a little more time to learn how manipulate light into such intense forms." Mickey replied before turning a glare back to the rising Heartless, tightening his hold on his blade. "Now, what do you say we end this eyesore?"

"Oh, I'm in." Ryo grinned, raising his right palm, his fingers pressed against each other. Not giving the Dark Thorn enough time to stabilise itself again, the two took off into a sprint and jumped together, simultaneously pulling themselves into aerial somersaults.

"Hi-ya!"

"Voltage Blade!" Pulling out of their spins as they reached the Dark Thorn, all the Heartless could see was a pair of gold and purple flashes. Before it could even register what had happened, both Mickey and Ryo were crouching on one knee before it, their blades held straight up before them as, with a mighty roar, the Heartless exploded, scattering black wisps all around them.

"Now that's how we roll." Ryo cheered victoriously, throwing a fist into the air as he stood back up. However, he quickly pulled it down as his wounds finally demanded his attention, hissing as his side stretched. "Hmm, I might need a little help from Namine. Stupid, lucky shot. Who's bright idea was it to cover that thing in thorns anyway?"

"Hey, where did you think its name came from?" Mickey responded lightly, chuckling at Ryo's tirade as he released his Keyblade back to its usual resting place. Shaking his head as Ryo flinched again; the mouse king grabbed his hand and tugged him to the ground. "Just relax Justiman. The others should catch up soon, provided that they don't get too lost. We'll wait for them here. Now lie down and I'll see about that side of yours."

Ryo's eyes turned hesitant for a moment as he stared down at the mouse, conflicted. On one side he knew that they should wait till the others caught up and he did need some treatment to be at the top f his game, but at the same time, he couldn't remove the urge to ignore it all and run after the group ahead of them. No matter how much he convinced himself that they'd be fine, the simple fact was that he couldn't stop worrying about their safety, especially Gohan and the others that had fought alongside him against Garlic Jr.

However, with the understanding, but firm look Mickey was giving him on its side, logic won out. Sighing, he nodded his head and did as he was told, just hoping the others would come soon as the Keyblade Master lifted his shirt off of his hip, inspecting and healing the wound.


	12. Titans Of Darkness Part 1

**Titans Of Darkness Part 1: The Kurt Zisa And The Green Explosion**

It was only their quick reflexes that saved the two boys from being cut in half, forcing up their arms and just barely blocking the giant blades with Way To Dawn and the crossed, retractable claws on the back of Rath's hands. The rest of the group had frozen in horror at the sight, blown away by the appearance of the blades, with the exception of Sora and Donald who'd just jumped and hissed at the sight of them. Silver, crescent blades with gold outlined holes near the end. They were bigger and wider than any man and promised death to whoever they touched.

However, they were nothing compared to what was holding them. For following them around the corner was creature of nightmares. The beast was as tall as a one story house, towering over them all. It had six arms, all of them ending with hands bearing three sharp as steel claws, one on each side of its body holding one of the blades. Its brown feet were massive and shaped like hooks pointing down to the ground. White pants and sleeves outlined with gold covered its form, along with the Heartless symbol on a gold apron dangling down from its armoured hips. And right in the middle of its round, almost hunchbacked, upper body, surrounded by white and gold armour, was the giant, beige and gold outlined head of a cobra, hissing as it stared at them like they were nothing more than defenceless prey.

"Wow. This thing is even scarier than my clone made it out to be." Danny gulped, backing away shakily as it whipped up its blades again, eyeing each member of their group as if it were unsure who to go for first.

"Keep your guard up." Sora shouted, the light balls from his explosion spell already surrounding him as he held his Ultima Blade up offensively before him. "We're looking at one of the most dangerous Heartless you'll ever find. It's strong, fast, well armoured and has about four different ways to kill you."

"Then let's try keeping our distance from it." Jake responded as Roxas jumped onto his back before soaring right out of the creature's reach.

"Light!" Roxas released thirteen light javelins right down at it as Jake took a deep breath, releasing a flamethrower after them a second later. Making them spin, Roxas directed his attack right into the flames, allowing them to coat the javelins before boosting their speed so much that the Kurt Zisa, thought trying to raise its swords, completely failed to avoid the attack. A fiery light lance crashed right into each of its limbs while the remaining five struck randomly into its upper body, sending it crashing into the ground.

"Danny, go now!" Donald yelled, pointing off from where the Heartless came from. "Get your friends."

"Everyone else, follow him through." Riku called just as loudly as Danny nodded, already taking off. "We're gonna need more room to manoeuvre."

"FORGET SPACE!" Rath roared, throwing his head back. "No one can beat RATH!" Crouching down, he flung himself into the air and right down on the Heartless, pulling his arms back behind his head before slamming his fists into its gut.

"You know, I suddenly have this urge to grab a bag of popcorn." Sora said softly, staring on with childlike wonder as Rath went on punching a screaming, frequently shouting phrases along the lines of 'take that' and 'try a knuckle sandwich you snake thingy'.

"An urge we've all felt one time or another when Ben goes Rath." Jake nodded as he swooped down, grabbing the immobile Keybearer's arms and flying him overhead. "But try to refrain from following it through until a time when the Earth's not hanging in the balance."

"Shouldn't we help him?" Donald asked, turning back hesitantly as he made it into the much larger room. Danny didn't even respond, just continuing on his way as Jake shrugged.

"Don't sweat it. Just watch." Jake answered as Roxas jumped off of his back, making his way back to the doorway.

"Yo stripes! Bring the party this way." He shouted, nodding his head back at the room as he stared firmly at the mauling, bipedal tiger.

"Why? I'm wiping the floor with this thing just fine." Rath snapped back, never stopping his onslaught. That is, until one of the Kurt Zisa's lower arms latched onto Rath's waist. The tide quickly turned at that as the Heartless swung Rath around like a ragdoll, slamming him into the walls as its claws cut into his side.

"OOOOWWW! WHOA! STUPID- OW! I WILL DESTROY-OWWW! CUT THAT OUT! OOOOWWWW!"

"Oh for Kingdom Hearts' sake!" Roxas cried, shaking his head exasperatedly, both at the sight before him and how literal his exclamation actually was at that point in time, as he gathered light energy into Oathkeeper. Pulling his arm back, he waited just long enough for the keystone to glow, increasing both his strength and the power gathered in his blade tenfold before giving it a mighty toss.

The Keyblade soared through the air with such speed that it looked light a white, glowing Frisbee, cutting loudly through the air before it crashed right into the rising Zisa's hip, ploughing it straight back into the ground with the force of a sledgehammer, his hand unclenching involuntarily and releasing the alien tiger on the way down.

"WHOOOOAAAA!" Rath was completely unprepared for the tossed and proved that not all cats land on their feet as he came down, crashing solidly on his butt beside the irritated blond. It was only for a split second though, he was up and jumping around with his hands covering his rear a second later. "OW, OW, OW, THAT...I could have taken him." Rath muttered sulkingly, his shoulders drooping as he turned to find himself the prime focus of very irritated blue eyes.

"Yeah. Sure you could." Roxas deadpanned, crossing his arms as he stared up at Rath's face looking thoroughly unimpressed. "Just get your furry butt over with the rest of us now! Understand me?" He snapped, pointing off toward the others, looking and sounding perfectly like a father demanding his disobedient kid to go to his room.

"Oh alright." Rath muttered, finally giving in. His shoulders sagged and his face turned sulky as he trudged back to the group.

"What...just happened there?" Riku gawked, ignoring the Kurt Zisa completely as he stared open mouthed alongside Sora at the scene before him. In that form, Ben didn't seem like he'd take any crap from anyone, but here he was, drudging along like a kicked puppy as he followed Roxas' orders.

"No matter what form he takes, Roxas can always get Ben to listen to reason." Jake replied, chuckling at the sight despite the situation. "After Gwen, Roxas is the Guardian Ben's grown closest to and developed the most respect for. And other than Gwen, he's the one person who's aggression and intensity can dominate over Rath. There isn't even one other person in the universe that can have that affect over him."

"Let me tell you something American Dragon!" Rath growled, not at all amused with the laughing dragon. "Nobody turns RATH submissive!" He added, shaking his fists at the still laughing reptile. "Rath does what he wants, when he wants!"

"Excuse me?" Rath couldn't help the shiver that ran up his spine as Roxas' soft, cold voice met his ears. Even his primitive brain set off alarm bells at the warning of retribution hanging so clearly in the tone.

"But I will do what Roxas asks of me." He added quickly, turning a nervous smile to the blond Keybearer, leaving Jake about ready to fall into hysterical laughter.

"Good boy." Roxas responded, not even looking at him as the Kurt Zisa burst back into the room, swinging its blade right at them. Jake immediately calmed down and dropped into an offensive position as Roxas, activating the Keystone once again, blocked both blades and pushed back with his own, forcing the creature into a stalemate.

...

Bangs, booms, creaks and crashes from beyond the door had Pete shaking in his boots. The faint shouts weren't helping his nerves either, seeing as they were proof that the fight was not going as easy for the Kurt Zisa as he'd hoped, making it a very big possibility that he was about to get stuck in a fight.

"Oh, why me? Why must I always be right in between the enemy and their target?" He muttered to himself as he raised his shaking arms, one holding what looked like a laser while the other held the Fenton Thermos.

"Um, because you're the incompetent minion?" Gohan suggested helpfully, smiling innocently as his injuries would allow as Pete turned an irritated glare on him. "What, it's a cliché with the bad guys. The useless, blundering minion is put on the front lines or left standing guard over anything captured. That way, they can still be a slight nuisance to the good guys while at the same time preventing them from screwing up the main plan."

"Why you annoying little pest!" Pete growled, whipping around furiously. Forgetting his fear or the noises from beyond the door, he stomped his way over to Gohan, dropping both items along the way and ripped the boy as far off the ground as the chains would let him by his neck.

However, Gohan just smiled victoriously as a blue flicker turned white and flashed by in the corner of his eye from the door, going completely unnoticed by Pete. It wasn't until Danny had gone blue and transparent again and dived into Pete's back that he noticed something was wrong.

"Hey, what was- ARGH! OW! OWOWOWOWOWOWOW!" Gohan laughed and Gwen grinned in barely contained glee as Pete's arms moved on their own accord, slugging him with knuckle sandwich after knuckle sandwich with ever increasing speed. At the same time, Pete's legs were wobbling backwards, driving him further and further from the captured teens and into the far wall.

Gwen finally let out her own hysterical laughter as Pete's suspenders turned intangible and lost their connections to his straps, causing them to fall to the ground and tangle up his feet, resulting in him tripping and flopping backwards to the ground, his head and upper back leaning against the walls.

"Oh, pretty birdies." He chuckled, dazed and dizzy, his head doing circles. Grinning proudly at his work, Danny floated out of his gut before grabbing a pair of shackles hanging from the wall and clasping them firmly around Pete's wrists with a resounding click.

"Hey, wha, what are you doing? Let me go!" Pete cried panickedly, snapping out of it at the click and struggling vainly to break free.

"You're not worth killing, so I'm just going to leave you there." Danny responded, walking calmly towards the others, not even bothering to look at his captured prey. "Just be grateful I stopped there. Next time, we'll see how YOU like being super compacted into something smaller than half your leg."

"What? You can't leave me like this!" He cried, fear and panic evident in his loud voice and the violent rustling of his chains. "At least lift up my pants!"

"Thank you, I needed a good laugh after the hell today's been." Gwen chuckled, getting a bright smile from Danny in return as he wrapped his hands around her arms.

"So what's with the outfit change?" Gohan asked as he watched Danny turn both himself and Gwen intangible and pull her free, seeming to struggle for a few seconds before her wrists phased successfully through. "And unless I'm mistaken, you're in human form."

"Maleficent hit me with a whammy that almost complete ripped me apart. Now I have one form with all the advantages of both. I'll tell you all of the details later." He responded as he stepped over to the alien hybrid, wrapping his arms as gently as he could around his torso before repeating the transparent process and laying him gently on the floor.

"Well, this wasn't part of the plan. You'd think I would have noticed this before." Danny muttered, looking Gohan's slashed, bruised and battered body over more carefully, there was no way that he was going to be fighting anytime soon. Not without Namine or Roxas giving up a hell of a lot of magic to heal him anyway.

"And our problems are only getting worse." Gwen said warningly, clenching her teeth as Neo Shadows appeared all around them._ Maleficent must have charmed the shackles to summon these things if we were freed_. She realised, taking a defensive stance over Gohan and cursing under her breath. _And without my magic, I can't do much of anything to these despicable creatures._

"Gwen, catch!" Danny seemed to have thought of that too as he tossed the Fenton nine tails her way before putting on the ghost gauntlets. Smiling appreciatively as her fingers wrapped around the cold metal, she snared a Neo Shadow in its grip and swung it hard into a group of them before flinging the weapon out like a fishing rod. She wasn't sure that the nine tails would be enough help with these particularly deadly looking shows, however, that and the laser she'd watched Pete drop before should do it. Grinning as the cords wrapped around her target perfectly, she whipped it back and snatched the laser out of the air, firing instantly at a lunging Heartless while ensnaring and tossing another.

On the other side of Gohan, Danny chose to perfect his boxing skills, lashing out with a barrage of punches at everything that approached. The gloves enhanced the strength of the user's punches tenfold and with his already enhanced strength, destroying Neo Shadows was easy. There was the slight problem that firing any energy blasts from his hands would destroy them, but with Gwen making Xena look like an amateur behind him and Gohan releasing the occasional energy blast from his shaky fingers, it didn't seem like it was going to be much of a problem. The only real problem was how long it was going to take to deal with the creeps.

_Sorry guys, you'll have to handle the Kurt Zisa on your own._

...

A low hiss echoed from Roxas' mouth as his arms started to shake and buckle, his eyes scrunching tight. He didn't know why, but his strength was waning. Of course, he'd definitely noticed it all day, it's kind of hard not to notice your body losing its ability to hold itself up, even if it did only last a moment or two at a time, but it was still unexpected here all the same, nor could he fathom a reason. And this time seemed slower than those previous. Whereas before it had been an instantaneous drop, this time it was slow, only noticeable as the Kurt Zisa slowly started overpowering him, pushing him a step or two back.

"Guys, a little help would be great right now." He grunted, sparing an urgent look back through the corner of his eye as he tried to stop his spine from bending. With his strength faltering, there was no way that he could get out of his position alive on his own.

"We'll give you more than a little." Sora responded, rushing in and thrusting up his Keyblade to block one of the Zisa's blades just as Roxas' shaky left arm was about to slip, his arm brushing the relieved blonde's as he did so and spiking a jump in Roxas' energy loss.

Fortunately for the weakening dual Keybearer, the others weren't far behind. Just as Roxas' arms were about to completely give way to the force of the opposing blades, five streams of darkness cut through the ground from behind like knives, springing up airborne and crashing into the Zisa's torso, sending it stumbling back a few feet.

As a smirking Riku pulled the tip of Way To Dawn out of the ground, Jake and Ben flew right over his head towards the beast, both with claws pierced to strike. Ben's fists crashed into one shoulder, throwing the Heartless completely off balance again as Jake dove from the sky, claws outstretched before him and wings tucked close to his back as he pulled himself into a spin, striking down on the other shoulder and knocking it back to the ground as he ended his spin and unfurled his wings, soaring high above again.

Donald leapt up above it next. Not giving it the time to recover, he waited just until he was in the middle of its fallen form before swinging his staff down toward it.

"Comet!" It was the fourth of July all over again as explosions in every colour of the rainbow blew into up and into every inch of the dark beast, leaving it on the ground and jerking like it was having a seizure as the teens backed safely away, taking the time to prepare their next attack. Or in Roxas' case, take a good few large gulps of air and try to get the white spots out of his eyes.

Quickly jumping to its feet the second the blasts ended, the Heartless went berserk, swinging its blade randomly in every direction.

"YIKES!"

"WHOA!" Riku gritted his teeth as he just managed to aerial roll over a diagonal slash, the good inch of his hair falling to the ground emphasising how close it was as Sora leaped back from a horizontal strike from the other, his eyes wide and alight with fear as it dawned on him that the blade was going to hit anyway. Fortunately, his instincts kicked in at that moment and he flung up his blade, flat side facing the attack, and placed his free hand on the other side of the blade. The Keyblade took the blow with ease, leaving Sora a relieved young man as he readjusted himself to the increased momentum.

"Hey, watch the tail!" Jake cried as the Zisa used the momentum of his swinging blades to spin around and throw a scissor cut up above its head, Jake only just avoiding losing his entire tail by wiggling it like a worm up and around each individual blade tip.

"Listen here Kurt Zisa!" Ben growled, charging right in as the Zisa whipped around his way with a crescent slash. "You mess with Rath's friends, you get Rath's claws!" Jumping as the blade reached him, he landed with both feet on the blade and leaped again, fists drawn at his sides and aiming his claws for the Zisa's eyes, only for an arm to snag him right out of the air and squeeze hard.

"Let go snake man!" He growled, twisting and writhing in the beast's hand, baring his fangs and roaring as he was ignored. Instead, the Zisa just twisted his blades and swung them in, one aiming to impale Rath's back between its fingers and the other preparing to behead him.

"Oh, no you don't!" Jake shouted, swooping low and swinging his tail forcefully at the Zisa's eyes, causing it to flinch.

"Blizaga!" Donald quickly joined in, his spell effectively producing large blocks of ice right where the arms holding its blades met its body, bringing them to a sudden halt. It quickly responded by taking the blades in it still free hands, but that gave Riku and Sora plenty of time to move in.

"Darkness!"

"Light!"

"Twilight Art!" Their Keyblade bursting to life with black and white glows, jumped in at the beast from either side, creating a cross of black and white slashes as they passed each other before leaping back in with a number of simultaneous strikes.

The blows proved to be more than proficient, for with every jerk, stumble and toss back they caused, the Zisa's grip on Ben loosened.

"Oh yeah, now it's on." A feral grin crossing his face, Ben let loosed a ferocious roar and swung his arms out to his sides so forcefully that the fingers were blown right open. Grabbing onto one of them just as Sora and Riku finished their combination, he swung on it like a monkey bar and shot himself, feet first, right into the centre of its torso before back flipping and slashing up with his claws right into the bottom on its mouths, sending it reeling before kicking off and aerial rolling away. He would have gone in again right away, but just as he landed, a black and white blur side swiped him that he almost fell down himself as it passed.

Running as fast as he could and into a huge leap, Roxas thrust his blades before him and was consumed in white light twice as large as ever before and ploughed right into the Heartless, finishing Ben's job and sending it to the ground once again with a mighty crash. However, the move clearly had repercussions for Roxas. As quick as it came, the light disappeared with a flash and Roxas crashed to the ground on his knees and elbows, panting heavily and looking about ready to pass out.

Meanwhile, the Kurt Zisa did not seem amused by the light show. As soon as it was over it screeched so loud that it hurt their ears, forcing them to clamp their hands over them as it jumped to its feet. Taking advantage of their unprepared state, it spread its arms out wide and pulled its whole body into a spin, coming at them with such speed that it looked light a white and beige buzzsaw, the silver gleam of its blades promising death.

"Duck!" Though the others still hadn't noticed the danger, none of them waisted even a second wondering and dropped flat against the call the second Sora's panic filled voice hit their ears, save for Jake who, having been airborne, flew as high as he could into the air, all of them just narrowly avoiding being cut to ribbons.

"What is going-"

"NO, STAY DOWN, IT'LL COME BACK!" Sora screamed as Ben jumped back to his feet. True to the brunette's words, the Kurt Zisa stopped in mid air only for a second to switch from a vertical spin to a horizontal one before shooting right back, aiming for Rath's, surprisingly terrified, face at a speed that he could never hope to avoid.

"BEN!" Horror filling his eyes as the Heartless spun itself a mere second away from Ben, Roxas forgot all about his exhaustion and sprung to his feet before jumping as high as he could towards his friend.

"AAARRRGGGHHH!" Rath's blood curdling scream as the blades struck home and cut enormous chunks of fur and flesh from his body only pushed Roxas to pick up the pace far beyond anything he could have hoped of achieving ever before, his body disappearing in white light as he did. Everyone's gaze was filled with pure horror at Ben's situation and awe at the incredible speed Roxas had pulled off, only getting faster as he too started spinning his body, creating a buzzsaw of blades and light magic before colliding right into the Kurt Zisa.

A yellow, rune shaped flash of light appeared on the light buzzsaw a mere second after the two collided and within an instant, the light magnified in intensity and tossed the Heartless away from Ben and off to an uninhabited corner of the room.

However, though it saved his life, Ben didn't come out of it well at all. Moaning and whimpering, he crashed into the floor where he stayed. His muscles in his limbs were sliced open and his torso was riddled with very deep slashes. But despite the burning agony his body was screaming with, his pained and horror filled eyes remained fixated on his chest. For there, flashing and sparking, was a severely cracked Omnitrix.

"E-e-everyo-n-ne, run! T-t-t-the watch- ARGH...is g-g-gonna blow!"

"WHAT?" Jake couldn't believe his ears and froze in the air at that, leaving the already up fighting Zisa to Riku and Donald. He'd heard the story about the last time it almost blew up. It almost released a catastrophic explosion so great that half the universe would have been destroyed. Ben had assured him that it would need to charge for days for that to happen, but even an instant explosion would kill Ben if he was still connected to it. "Change back, get it off."

"Can't...blow soo...sooner." Ben forced out between screams, trying to force his body to stop the spasms and relax. There was nothing he could do to save his life.

Sora however, wasn't thinking about that. He'd left Jake to talk to Ben from the start. The reason he wasn't alongside Riku as the silver haired teen leapt onto one of the slashing crescent blades and up to lash out with a diagonal slash, cutting off a fang, was because Roxas had landed like a lifeless ragdoll very close to Ben and even after taking a number of deep breaths, he still couldn't do so much push his chest up off the ground.

"Roxas!" Ignoring the risk to his own safety, Sora ran as fast as he could to his double just as the Omnitrix released a giant sphere of green electricity, Ben screaming as it consumed him. Deciding that they could deal with any extra damage later, Sora threw all gentle options to the wind and simply grabbed on to Roxas' arm and dragged him away as fast as he could, grimacing at Roxas' drossy, but pained cry as he dislocated it.

"Sorry Roxas." He grunted, only hastening his pace as his hair standing even more on end than usual, if that was possible. The flickers of green light intensifying only caused him to redouble his efforts, desperate to get both himself and his strangely drained Nobody out of harm's way.

Though gaining higher altitude, Jake only continued to watch in horror, his chest hurting through every second of Rath's screaming. However, just as tears started falling from his eyes at was guaranteed to be the end of his friend, the light seemed to turn hollow, allowing him to see within it at the same time Rath's screaming voice turned into Ben's human one.

"Ben, what's going on? Please tell me you're ok." He shouted, his panic only increasing as he almost subconsciously blew a flamethrower down as one of the Zisa's upper arms tried to snatch at him, circling around to the other side of the green lightning as he lowered himself to Ben.

"Omnitrix damaged, explosion immanent." Jake's fiery red scales turned dull, paling at the computerised voice. He'd been desperately hoping that Ben was wrong. His friend and ally didn't deserve to die like this. "Emergency disconnection activated."

That line however, though shocking almost to the point of passing out, rekindled his hope like oil restores a dying flame. A second later, he watched with a huge, relieved smile as the green, electrical orb rose back off of the ground just enough to reveal Ben, his eyes scanning him over just long enough to note that he was still breathing, something that only took a second considering the large and loud gasps of air he was making, before focusing on the watch. Glowing green for only a second, it unlatched itself from Ben's wrist and shot off like a rubber band, taking the charging energy into an empty part of the room with it as it clattered on the ground.

"Oh, thank God!" Jake's sigh was almost as loud as the resounding bang that followed it as the Kurt Zisa broke through Riku and Donald once again and swung his blades at Jake, fully intending to cut both of his wings in half, only to miss as he banked a hard left and out of the way, leaving them to crash into the ground.

At that moment, a deadly rage burned through his entire being. This despicable, disgusting creature had almost killed Ben. With the wounds of Rath remaining, despite changing back, he would still die if he didn't get serious medical attention soon! And who knew how many other people this thing had ripped apart?

All sense left the reptilian hero at that moment. All he knew was that every fibre of his being wanted this creature destroyed. And that was exactly what he was about to do.

Banking right around the Zisa, Jake shot straight up as he reached behind it and breathed the biggest flamethrower he could muster right into the point where its lower half met its upper half. Riku, Donald and even Sora couldn't help but stop and stare for a second as the Kurt Zisa jerked violently on impact, forced to take a couple of steps forward just to maintain its footing. Not done by a long shot, Jake flew right after it, releasing another intense fireball from his mouth every few seconds, tossing his head around like a bobble head doll as he did to ensure burning blows to every part of its body and continue it on its way forward, right towards the malfunctioning Omnitrix.

Seeing that Jake was in no need of help, and liking the idea of not being turned extra crispy themselves, Sora and Donald hung back, Sora taking the chance to reset Roxas' arm, flinching and apologising profusely as Roxas screamed, and Donald running over to Ben, his staff lighting up with all the power he had as he cast Curaga again and again. Running completely dry after the fourth spell, Donald collapsed, unconscious before he even hit the ground, but the soft sighs of relief of Sora, Roxas and Ben filled their ears as they scanned him over and found him healed enough to live.

Riku however, fully intended to join in and would have just rushed right up with dark magic spewing from his fingertips if it weren't for the flashing and sparking green electricity flaring out from in front of the Zisa. Jake, whether he realised it or not, was forcing the Zisa right to the Omnitrix! And that gave the smirking Keybearer a plan.

Jake had given up on flamethrowers by now, having noticed that the extended lack of proper breathing had caused black spots, and had brought it onto a much more physical battle, swooping in and piercing one of the Zisa's left hands deeply with his claws while his tail whipped the sword right out of its hand. The Heartless responded by swinging the right sword right for his head, However, Jake dislodged and dropped to the ground at the last minute, leaving the crescent blade to plough into two of its arms, cutting them right off. Not missing a beat, Jake spread his wings once again and took advantage of its new lack of stability and slammed both of his fists into the back of the Zisa's knee, bringing it crashing to the ground with an ear piercing roar.

Seeing his chance and his window of opportunity closing if the erratic, green pulses were anything to go by, Riku dived and slid right through the falling beast's legs and snatched the Omnitrix from the ground. Jolting at the sudden burst of electricity hitting his arm, he took a mere second to turn and aim before tossing the device into the air and right into the Kurt Zisa's mouth.

It seemed that his timing couldn't be perfect. For the Heartless had only a few seconds to sit up and glare at the teens before releasing a wailing scream as all of its joints glowed green. A mere second later, green beams exploded from each joint, destroying everything they were connected to. Gasping and gaping, Jake and Riku only had seconds after that before the whole beast went up like a bomb, its screams completely drowned out by the deafening boom as its body was decimated.

"AAARRRRGGGHHHH!" The explosion easily covered half the room and Riku and Jake were way too close to avoid it, both of them being thrown forward as the first shockwave crashed into their backs. Crashing to the ground, Jake forced himself up and shielded Riku with his body, hoping his scales were strong enough to withstand the wave of energy coming right for them.

"Man, that's a big boom!" Sora grunted loudly, crouching over Roxas' still limp form.

"No kidding." Ben groaned, holding Donald close to his side with his more injured arm and trying to stop the fierce winds from blowing him right off the ground with the other.

It took a good few moments for the blast to die down, and when it did, it was with a great deal of fear and concern for their friends that Sora, Roxas and Ben staring at the damaged area.

It hadn't fared well. Most of the far wall was gone and so was all of the floor and ceiling. Where the holes ended was charred black and full of cracks. And just far enough for the cracks to turn shallow was a slowly rising Jake, bringing a collective, relieved sigh from the terrified boys.

Jake's movements were slowly and jerky, not that the three watching him were surprised. All of the scales of his back, wings and tail were covered with electrical burns. It didn't seem that the damage had passed to surface, but it sure made the grimacing dragon hurt like hell as he got off a more or less unharmed Riku, enough so that he just gave up and crashed onto the ground beside him with a pained whimper.

"Dude...warn me next time or I'll kill you myself." He groaned, glaring down at the silver haired swordsman as he swatted lightly him with his claw.

"I'll do that. Sorry." Riku grunted, offering the reptile a sheepish smile as he got up on his knees, rubbing his back tenderly.

"It would be nice to have a mission where we don't almost die in a huge explosion." Roxas commented dryly, finally pulling himself to his feet as the keystone awakened again, the glow never dying down. "The only time we did, was in that battle in the magic school. And I wasn't on that one."

"Let's whine later guys, ok?" Sora called, already making his way towards the door leading to the prisoners. "We need to make sure your friends are..."

He never finished however, for just as he was about reach the door, it opened wide, revealing a triumphant looking Danny carrying a mauled Gohan on his back and a beach ready Gwen walking behind him, complete with a laser in one hand and the Fenton nine tails in the other. The perfect accessories for dealing with the sleaze balls her beauty attracts.

"Whoa, is that guy o...yikes, what' with the tail?" Sora's eyes nearly popped right out of their sockets as Gohan's tail swayed back and forth, seeming to have a mind of its own. "Has Maleficent been playing God or something?"

"No, it's natural." Gohan cried, sounding quite offended as the tail slunk right back to his chest. "Why, what's wrong with it?"

"Oh, n-nothing." Sora stuttered, a little flabbergasted, before kicking himself for insulting the young hero. True, he wasn't expecting a boy to have a tail, but considering Jake and Ben alone, it shouldn't have been too big of a surprise to him. It was actually pretty par for the course. Muttering a quick apology, he placed his hand on Gohan's shoulder and cast a Curaga and just gaped at Gohan as the boy sighed almost contentedly.

_This one's different, even from the others._ He thought, looking the messy haired hybrid over. _With the injuries he had before, I wouldn't be able to manage so much as staying conscious, yet he seemed to be able to ignore most of it and act almost normal. Hell, look at him now, he's still pretty badly hurt, yet he's acting like he's completely uninjured._

Sora could only watch in awed fascination as Gohan pulled himself off of Danny's back, stretching a little despite the fairly decent cuts and sprains covering his form. It was more than enough for Sora to be willing to do nothing more than lay down and sleep till it all went away, but Gohan was acting casual. And looking around him, it was clear that it was a frequent event as Ben and Roxas limped and stumbled over to him and Gwen, giving the two tired, pained, but very happy smiles as they, and Danny, turned pale at the sight of them and Jake.

"Ben! Guys, what happened!" Gwen cried, dropping her weapons in her panic as she rushed up to her cousin and checked his wounds as delicately as she could.

"A giant Heartless with blades." Ben responded, crying loudly as her nail hit one of his cuts. "It almost turned Rath into confetti and damaged the Omnitrix. Which then exploded and caught Jake."

"Don't worry, I'll live." Jake called over as all three of the returning teammates' head whipped to him, giving them a small grin. Though still concerned, Gohan and Gwen took it at face value and left him to Danny as the ghost boy walked over and placed his blue glowing hands on Jake's back, making Jake sigh pleasurably as he soothed the burns with his icy energy.

"So what about you Roxas? What's wrong?" Gohan asked, wrapping an arm around the Blonde's waist and letting Roxas lean on him, earning him a thankful smile.

"I don't know. My energy's just disappearing. It's only because of Gwen's keystone that I'm standing at all." He answered, holding up the glowing charm for emphasis.

None of this sounded good to any of them. Ben's powers were gone forever, Roxas was about as stable as the flame of a birthday candle before a slight breeze, Gwen's powers were stolen, Donald was unconscious from energy depletion and Gohan and Jake were still in bad shape. Namine would have to heal them before either of them could stand a chance of survival against the big three. Frowning deeply at each other, despite how relieved to know that they were all still alive, they could only hope that the others were still in far better conditions than them. Otherwise, their last stand was going to flop.


	13. Titans Of Darkness Part 2

**Titans of Darkness Part 2: The Hunter Of The Dark**

Namine was having a fair bit of difficulty keeping up as the group ran in search of the others, groaning as yet more stairs appeared before them. The girls had managed to find Rai, Goofy and Dojo pretty quickly after their fight with Ursula, however, barring Dojo and Goofy, everyone had needed a little healing. After healing Kairi and Kim's wounds, Rai's injured leg had taken a fair bit out of her, especially with all the running, fighting beforehand. Plus, even with the rest she'd had before the satellite plummeted, she still wasn't back to full strength to begin with.

When they'd reached Danny's clone, she'd hoped that she could get a few moment's rest while he brought them up to speed on what had been going on, by the ectoplasmic duplicate had other plans, talking a mile a minute as he led them onwards to where he knew Ryo and Mickey had stayed to fight the Dark Thorn.

The sigh that fell from her lips was so loud that everyone's heads whipped back to her as she let her legs collapse under her, leaning her back against the wall as she sagged to the ground.

"Namine? Are you alright?" Ryo called, coming to a halt from his pacing as he forced down a mild panic while Mickey, who had been meditating beside him, opened his eyes and watched on worriedly.

"I'm just exhausted." She mumbled, forcing a smile while taking a number of deep breaths. "I don't have nearly as much physical stamina or magical power as everyone else. I'm hitting my limit."

"Why didn't you mention anything?" Kim asked, gaping as the others' eyes widened. "Me, Rai, Dojo, even Danny could have carried you."

"I didn't want you guys to exert yourselves anymore than you had to." She answered, closing her eyes as she leaned her head back. "You'll need everything you've got to fight Maleficent and the others still ahead."

"But we'll still need you too." Rai said softly, frowning and biting his lip as he took in her condition, kicking himself for not noticing. He saw that she was a little out of it after healing his leg, but he'd blown it off in their rush. This was becoming a very bad habit. The more experienced fighters kept failing to notice when the others' stamina was failing them. And they don't mention anything for fear of worrying or weakening the others. "The others may be in need of your healing power and your power is one the most effective ones against these guys. And besides all that, you're in danger of being picked off in your vulnerable state. We don't want you to get hurt."

"I can fix this." Mickey stated before Namine could respond, jumping to his feet and walking over to the blonde. Reaching her side, he shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of glowing, gold liquid.

"Isn't that..." Namine asked, staring in amazement as she slowly took the bottle from his hand, examining every detail that she could.

"What is it?" Dojo asked, scratching his chin as he looked it up and down. "It's magical, I can tell you that, but I've never seen anything like it before."

"It's an elixir." Mickey answered, nodding for a hesitant Namine to drink it. "One that's extremely hard to come by. The ingredients that make it all exist on different worlds. I have yet to find one world that holds more than one of the ingredients. However, it's well worth the trouble of gathering them as it fully restores the drinker's physical and magical energy with no negative effects. I've been saving it for a special occasion."

"But I'd have to drink the whole bottle and I doubt you have another one." Namine said tiredly, raising the bottle hesitantly. "Wouldn't it be better to restore the strength of a stronger fighter? We'll need all the strength we can muster."

"Which is why you need to take it." Mickey responded kindly, offering a small smile. "With your strength back, you could heal multiple team mates while the elixir could only help one. Besides, what good is having all your strength if your body's to injured to use it? You're the best choice we have."

That did it, she had no argument for that. Giving the liquid one last look, she raised the bottle to her lips and drank it all in one gulp. Her face scrunched up in disgust as she forced it down her throat and had a serious need for a chocolate bar to ditch the foul taste, however, the effects proved to be worth it. No later than when she lowered the bottle, every sign of previous exertion disappeared. Her breathing evened out perfectly, her drowsiness disappeared, her aching muscles soothed themselves and on top of all of that, she felt like she could sprint her way right through a marathon. If anything, it felt like she had too much energy.

Deciding to fix that, she jumped right to her feet, startling her fellow Guardians, none of them expecting such a sudden recovery, and walked right up to Ryo. Before he could even register what she was doing, her hands were holding him firmly around his biceps and releasing the soothing sensation of magic through him, healing what Mickey could not without exhausting himself. Her hands had left him long before he realised it too, his body fully healed. However, Namine didn't look like she'd lost any energy at all, confusing him greatly. His remaining wounds had been small and mostly healed, but even healing a few small cuts usually at least got a sigh out of her.

"Hmm, maybe it was a little too big of a dose." Mickey commented, the same confusion crossing his mind as Namine almost skipped off on her way. "All well, it's not really a problem, it'll probably be beneficial."

"Kind of amusing too." Ryo couldn't help the chuckle escaping his mouth as the usually calm, shy telepath bounced around, dragging Clone Danny onward to the other group, talking animatedly about getting the show on the road right in his ear. Grinning at the others' bemused expressions, he nodded his head towards the fast moving pair and set off after them, the others right behind him.

...

"So which way do we go?" Rai growled, tapping his foot impatiently. Their path had been almost completely clear since they'd rejoined Ryo and Mickey, only one or two Heartless appearing here and there and very far apart. Needless to say that by the time they'd reached the fork in the road on the highest floor, the tension was starting to get to them.

Especially Rai. The longer they went without opposition, the more anxious he became. He couldn't really explain it, but he KNEW that something was nearby and it was a big something. Without any sign of it anywhere around, he had a really strong feeling that they'd be walking into its mouth before they realised it was even there.

"To our right is the prison cell holding Gohan and Gwen. The others went that way." Clone Danny answered, jerking his thumb in that direction before turning to the other. "That one leads to the Throne room where we'll find Maleficent, Jafar and Hades, most likely preparing to obliterate us with one blast if we manage to reach the door. So to answer your question Rai, we need to know where we want to go."

"I vote right." Dojo cried, throwing his hand up in the air. "I'd feel a lot more comfortable if we're all together when we fight three super powerful bad guys."

"I'd have to agree." Kairi nodded, getting a cheer from the miniature dragon. "I've heard plenty of stories about all three of them, and none of them were good. They were extremely dangerous on their own, who knows what their capable of together?"

"All the more reason for us to go after them now." Kim stated, leaving Dojo slack jawed and Kairi wide eyed. "The longer they're left alone, the more time they have to prepare for us. Besides, they'd expect us to come as one big group. Going after them now would throw them off and make it easier for everyone to avoid what they plan to throw at us."

"But all our strongest players are in the other group, besides King Mickey." Goofy responded, scratching his head nervously. "We couldn't hope to beat 'em."

"No, but we can keep them busy and tire them out a bit." Rai responded, nodding with Kim. "The others are bound to be getting a little worn out by now as it is and we don't know the conditions of Gohan and Gwen. If we can deplete some of the bad guys' reserves it'll give the others a better chance when they join us."

"That is a valid point." Mickey muttered, albeit reluctantly, as he rubbed his chin, frowning hard in thought. Ryo looked inclined to agree with Kim and Rai while Namine looked as hesitant as he was to decide. Clearly, the idea of making things easier for when the others arrived appealed to her, but at the same time, her concern over their missing friends was painfully obvious.

Then there was Kairi, Dojo and Goofy's point. They weren't enough to be much more than in irritation to the big three on their own and Kairi wasn't ready to face this as they were now. They'd need the others to arrive very quickly if they followed the Guardians' idea. Seeing only one solution available, the mouse king turned to the clone. "How difficult are the paths to each place from here?"

"Very simplistic." Clone Danny replied, tilting his head curiously. "You just follow the paths until you reach their ends. It's almost straight lines from here."

"Ok, then in that case, I believe the best thing we can do is split up." Mickey said with a nod.

"HUH?" Everyone's ears hurt at the thunderous, echoing cry released from no less than seven different mouths. "Are you nuts?" Dojo cried, pressing his panicked face right into Mickey's shocked one. "We all know we can't win all together and you want to send a smaller number to fight the butt ugly trio? Are you trying to get us killed?"

"Who says we'll get that far before the others show up?" Mickey asked calmly, gently pulling the shaking dragon down into his arms. "Kairi and Namine will head to the other group. That way, Namine can heal any of the wounded and get them all back to us sooner. Meanwhile, the rest of us will head towards Maleficent, but I doubt we'll get there too quickly. This is the last place to cross before we reach them and the others haven't already passed through it. There will be some kind of guard here."

"The Hunter of the Dark." Clone Danny said darkly, nodding his head and crossing his arms. "We haven't seen it yet and I can't think of a better place to put the most powerful Heartless on guard duty."

"Like Cerberus guards the entrance to Tartarise." Kim muttered, surprising Goofy and Mickey with that piece of knowledge. "Makes sense, seeing as we're dealing with its ruler."

"Then we better go get the others in top shape quickly." Kairi said firmly, grabbing Namine's hand. "We'll rejoin you as soon as we can."

"Good luck. And try not to get TOO many injuries." Namine called over her shoulder as they took off.

"No sweat." Rai called after them before heading off down their path with an eager Kim and a smirking Ryo on either side of him. "I mean, we're only going up against the most powerful Heartless any of us have ever seen. How hard could it be?"

"I don't know, how tough would facing ape Gohan be?" Ryo just couldn't help himself. And sometimes, as much as Rai enjoyed his confident, playful nature, he just wanted to strangle the metal head.

...

Raimundo's anxiousness only continued to rise as they travelled down the corridor. No Heartless were showing up at all, yet the further they went, the stronger the presence of dark magic grew. By the time they made it halfway down, the air was so thick with it that the walls had a green glow about them that was so dark it was almost black.

"Um, I would really like my Master Fung plush toy now. Or even better, the real thing." Dojo whimpered, shaking violently as he forced himself under the tunic covering Rai's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'd like to hug Ninja Fred at the moment." Rai muttered to himself through chattering teeth. However, his nervous expression quickly changed to one of red faced embarrassment as a snicker resounded throughout the area. "And if you ever tell anyone I said that, you're all dead meat. He's just a good luck charm." He growled, giving Ryo in particular a piercing glare.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." He responded, raising his hands in surrender, though the amused grin never left his face.

"I think it's cute." Kim responded with a giggle. "I collect cuddle buddies you know. My favourite's the pandaroo."

"Yeah, you're a girl. Even for a teenage one, it's far less embarrassing." Rai mumbled, trying, and failing, to lose the heat from his face, staring at the ground.

"Ben still sleeps with Furry Freddie you know." Kim tried, smiling mischievously as Ryo smirked. "I walked by his room on the satellite a few weeks ago and caught him spooning the little bear." Ryo couldn't stop himself from laughing at that point, Kim quickly joining in. Even Rai let loose a chuckle as some of the tension started to leave his body.

"Not very professional, are they?" Goofy commented, his eyebrows furrowed as he turned his head from one direction to the other, forever watching for any sign of attack. "They should be staying quiet and preparing for battle, not gossipin."

"True, but you have to remember Goofy that, even if they are world renowned heroes, they're still kids." Mickey replied, his ears twitching as he strained them to find even the softest footprint. "This situation is a tension nightmare and even if they weren't showing it much before, they are buckling under the stress and pressure, a condition that will only lead them into greater disasters if it isn't dealt with. This is their method of coping. And look at their eyes and the way their ears twitch. They are still paying some attention to their surroundings, if not all. Don't worry Goofy. When we find our target, they'll be focused."

"I hope you're...HEADS UP!" Swirling winds surrounded the group and a purple glow flared around Ryo at Goofy's cry, each of the Guardians gathering all the energy they could as they dropped into defensive stances. Goofy's star shield glowed with what little magic Goofy was capable while Mickey's Keyblade shined with radiant light as they watched the horrifying sight before them.

Just as they turned a corner and spotted the large, stone double doors leading to the throne room, the signature darkness of an awakening Heartless burst to life before them. However, this one was nothing like any of them had seen before. Whereas previously, Heartless teleported in with puddles of darkness of varying sizes rising up from the ground, this one had the black wisps exploding from the floor, the walls and even the ridiculously high ceiling. It gathered in the centre of the hallway and created a pillar so tall and wide that it completely sealed off the passageway, leaving them with no idea just how far the thing had spread back.

The anxiety Raimundo had felt before had not only returned to its peak, but magnified tenfold as he watched the sight before him. whereas all other Heartless had appeared in an instant, this gathering of evil energy had gone on for half a minute and still counting. A cold shiver shot right down his spine and froze his heart still as an ear piercing roar struck like thunder as the darkness started to recede, forcing his hands to fly to his ears in more than a little pain.

Then the darkness was gone. And in its place stood a snarling, viscous, terrifying beast that could only have come from the darkest of nightmares. Unlike all the other Heartless Rai had seen, this one was dominantly purple, not black, with a body shape similar to a lion, with magenta claws, spikes resembling a mane and spines all along his body, all of them long and very deadly. Thick chains were wrapped around its ankles, clattering loudly every time its huge feet moved, accompanied by tremors as the paws landed back on the ground. It would have been a horribly frightening creature even if it was no bigger than the average Heartless. But what really through Rai on edge more so than anything else was the eyes. Unlike every other heartless in existence's, this one's were glowing blood red. He didn't think eyes could get any worse than the yellow, soulless, malicious ones he'd seen all day, but this one's more than proved him wrong. And they meant something too, he knew it. For this one to have a colour scheme so different from the others, you could ensure that it was far beyond their league.

"We are so dead."

...

Sharp blue eyes scanned the entire passageway ahead three times over as Sora walked ahead of the group, back the way they'd come, impatient and irritated. They weren't moving nearly as fast as he'd hoped from this point and it was quickly killing his patience. He could understand the need to go slow just fine, after all, Gohan was far from fully healed by his spell, whatever was wrong with Roxas was reaching its peak, Ben was powerless, or rather had no clue how to use the little power that he had left, and Donald was unconscious. None of them were up for handling the dangers of the castle, so they had to go slow and protect them. Gwen wasn't at her best at the moment either. Though she was fine physically, the lack of her magic made her of little use in fighting creatures such as Heartless. She was a talented martial artist, but not at Kim's level, nor did she have a battle suit or gadgets to help her out. If she took the Keystone she'd be a tough contender, but they were all too afraid of the outcome if she took it from Roxas. He was barely holding on by a thread up on Jake's back as it was. Instead, she'd opted to take his spell book and try to find something that could return her power to her, or help stop Maleficent once she got it back. Sora could see the need to go slow as much as anyone. However, his mind kept returning to Kairi and the potential danger she could have found herself in. Not to mention Goofy, Mickey and the others. He wanted to find them as soon as he could.

It was part of the reason that while Danny kept close to the weaker team mates, surrounding them with the help of two clones as Jake flew overhead with Roxas and the still unconscious Donald on his back, that he and Riku were up front, a good ten feet ahead of the others. This way, they could destroy any opponents that popped up before they risked the injured and, in Sora's mind, spot Kairi sooner.

"Sora!" Fate seemed to be smiling upon him at that moment, for just as he was about to snap and plough his blade into a wall, he turned a corner and almost crashed to the ground as a red and pink blur threw itself at his chest, wrapping tightly around him.

Pulling back a bit, his stunned look quickly evolved into a bright smile as he found a very familiar pair of sparkling, indigo eyes looking into his ocean blue ones and a joyous cheer left his mouth as he pulled her close again and started jumping around happily, all his anxiety disappearing completely. Swept up in the moment, Kairi could only laugh into his shoulder, jumping along with him.

"Guys, you've only been separated for like half an hour. Is the dramatic 'at long last' lovers routine really necessary?" Riku asked, snorting at their behaviour. The two of them didn't even seem to hear him however, and just kept going, leaving the silver haired boy shaking his head as a white and blonde blur shot passed him.

"Gohan, Gwen! Thank goodness you're alright." Namine cried, an air of relief flooding off her in waves as she ran right into Gohan's arms, startling the hybrid as she wrapped her arms tightly around him and kissed the crook of his neck as she buried her head into his shoulder.

They didn't stay that way long though. It only took about two seconds for Namine to realise what she'd done and, blushing furiously, she ripped herself right back out of his arms.

"Um...sorry...that..." Flustered and very embarrassed, she couldn't even form a sentence, opting to stare at her feet.

"Aahh, no. It's fine." Gohan mumbled back, nibbling nervously on his lip, his cheeks a very dark pink.

"Guys, we don't have time for the 'I like you but can't seem to admit it' routine either." Jake called impatiently, dropping to the ground so as to rest his wings. "We're are the others anyway?"

"They went ahead towards Maleficent." Kairi responded, almost casually before her, and everyone else', eyes widened at the reminder or realisation. "So yeah, reunion pleasantries should wait." They really didn't have time to waste or their friends were doom.

"Danny, how are they?" Ben asked panickedly as a still blushing Namine placed her hands on Gohan's chest and started healing his remaining injuries, Kairi jumping in and helping supply power so as not to wear the blonde out again.

Just as worried as Ben, Danny instantly shut his eyes, however, they opened again after only two seconds and everyone watching him stopped breathing at the look of despair on his face.

"I don't know. The clone's been destroyed. It must have sent an image through the link as it happened though, because I saw what looked like a giant, Heartless equivalent of a lion. The Hunter of The Dark."

"Lion-like Heartless?" Gohan shouted, causing everyone who knew him to shake with fear. It took a hell of a lot to cause the look of pure terror to cross Gohan's face like that exclamation had. It always meant something beyond horrific. "That thing's what took me down! It was faster and stronger than me!"

"Then we don't have much time!" Ben snapped, breathing deeply as wild eyes glanced over the group. "Jake, Give me Roxas. Namine, Kairi, Gwen and I will stay back with him and Donald and see if they can do anything for them. The rest of you GO!"

"Don't need to tell me twice." Gohan said, taking off in a flash of white the second the girls had backed away from him. Wasting only enough time to hand Roxas' weakened form over to Ben, Jake flew off right after him alongside Danny, the pair evoking startled cried from Sora and Riku as they grabbed their running forms along the way and carried them down the hall.

"Why aren't you going with them Ben?" Namine asked as she focused her attention on Roxas, her and Kairi's glowing hands already pressed against his chest, she checking for anything she could fix and Kairi sharing her energy with Namine.

"My hero days seem to be over." The deep sadness the poor boy was feeling pooled off of him in waves so strong that she didn't even need her telepathy to feel them. Even without it, she was almost consumed by it.

And it only got worse for her as her power failed to do anything for Roxas. Though, she'd finally found out the problem. She'd always known that he was a different kind of Nobody, even to her. However, tears now poured down her face as she realised just how easy it was to pull him apart.

...

It was only the gathered energy in Rai's hands and an act of pure instinct that saved the group from an instant and gruesome end. Within an instant of revealing its form, the Hunter struck forward with speed well beyond anything they could muster. Fortunately, Rai's power was barely contained to begin with and at the sudden movement it released itself, creating a swirling barrier between the two sides just as the Hunter reached within an inch of the teens. It proved to be quite a decent display of power as the beast visibly flinched and stopped in its tracks. However, its snarling face continued forward, forcing away its prey all the same. Self preservation kicked in a second later and with a snap of his hands, the wind barrier burst. It did nothing more than make the Hunter twitch, but Rai was prepared for that and had the winds burst in both directions, blowing him and his allies right down the hall, putting some much needed distance between them.

"Oof!" Kim gritted her teeth as her shoulder crashed into the stone ground, confident that she'd heard something crack. However, she paid it no mind as the beats roared and quickly jumped to her feet in blind panic.

However, it wasn't as bad as she'd thought it'd be. Rather than a battle cry, the roar appeared to have been one of irritation as ecto ball after ecto ball crashed into its body. Clone Danny had avoided the wind entirely with the aid of his intangibility and took to the air. Circling around like a vulture above it, his hands were a green blur as he fired away, not only distracting it, but slowly turning it away from the group entirely.

"Guys, this is our chance, get up!" Kim cried, yanking Ryo to his feet. Ignoring his pained grunt, she dropped her hand to her hip and grabbed her laser, hesitating for only a second before aiming it right at the Hunter's butt.

"Dojo, time to add a few pounds." Rai muttered, grabbing the dragon from his shoulder and tossing the startled reptile into the air as his other hand grabbed the jewelled necklace around his neck. Though still shaking, Dojo did as he was told and grew to his full size as Mickey charged in with Goofy at his side, blade and shield poised for battle.

"You're not so tough!" Clone Danny jeered as the glow around his hands turned from green to icy blue before releasing a good ten ice shards right at the Heartless' eyes. Already lunging at him, the Hunter had no way of avoiding the shot and screeched as they hit home. "Oh yeah! Who's- ARGH!"

The move had proven to be disastrous. Rather than crippling it like the shards would have on a normal opponent, the blows only seemed to make it mad and quicken its attacks. Faster than the clone could turn intangible, the Hunter jumped up and chomped, catching him right around the waste. Rai, Kim and Ryo all felt like they were going to be sick as they watched on helplessly as look of pure horror crossed Clone Danny's face before the Hunter's jaw closed down and ripped him in half. All three of their hearts clenched painfully and their faces went chalk white as the clone fell to the ground in two pieces, almost in slow motion, before both disappeared in simultaneous puffs of green smoke.

The laser dropped right out of Kim's shaking hands and clattered away, unnoticed, on the ground as she stared at where the clone had been, her rattling breath and the restart of her overexcited heart the only things she could hear. The beast was turning back to them, but she didn't even notice. She just couldn't take her mind off what she'd seen.

She knew that it was just a clone, not her friend and not really alive, but it didn't change how traumatising the sight had been. That could have just as easily been Danny's fate. And it could be any of theirs. If someone with ghost powers couldn't survive against this creature, what chance did she have? Or Rai, Ryo or any of the others. "One false move and it would be all over."

"Don't do anything and it's over too!" Ryo's gruff voice snapped as a metal arm wrapped around her waist and jerked her roughly to the side. The sudden action snapping her back to her senses, she gaped from her place next to a just as spooked Rai and under Ryo back at where they'd been as deadly, magenta claws smashed into the stone, leaving very deep and cracking holes where her body had been.

"Stay focused you two." Mickey ordered as he whipped past, the green and orange blur that was Goofy right beside him. With a war cry, the two jumped into the air and raised their weapons as they started to glow with very concentrated magic, the Keyblade white and the shield green, drawing the immediate attention on the beast.

"Be gone dark creature!"

"Goofy tornado!"

Hesitating in the sight of Mickey's light magic, the Hunter left himself wide open as the two high speed, spinning warriors, one vertically, one horizontally, ploughed simultaneously and repeatedly right into the exposed side of its neck.

"RRRRROOOOOOAAAAARRRRR!" The resulting roar almost made Mickey's ears bleed as it toppled and stumbled, desperately trying to get away and regain its balance.

"And down you go!" Seeing its vulnerability, Dojo curled up his body and shot down like a missile, straight down at the Hunter's side. Just as it was starting to stabilise and he was about to smack head first into it, he pulled an immediate one eighty and slammed his tail right in between its right legs, knocking it hard onto its left side.

"Now's our chance!" Ryo said, aiming his metal arm right at its belly. The others didn't need to be told twice, Rai was beside him in an instant, his necklace held out before him, while Kim dived into a roll and snagged her laser, aiming quickly with ease that came from years of using her hairdryer.

"Justice Burst!"

"Eye of Dashi!"

Purple bolts, a stream of lightning and a blue beam the size of the average human hand all soared right into the very centre of the Hunter, the lightning spreading through its entire body as the other blasts dug deep and caused a small explosion. However, as the Hunter released another roar, the attacks instantly ended and everyone's weapons fell to the ground as their hands all flew to their ears, their faces scrunched up in intense pain.

The Hunter was up in a second. Faster than a cheetah, he shot right at them.

"AAARRRGGGHH!"

"BWWAAAHH!" Rai and Ryo were thrown high into the air in one direction while Mickey and Goofy were thrown in the other as the Heartless threw up its massive claws and passed them, all of them bloody messes. Before they could even blink, much less reach the ground, the Hunter whipped its body around and charged them again, this time also catching Dojo. Even before their blood curdling screams met her ears, Kim threw up her arm, activating her force field. An act that only just saved her life. For the very second after it rose, the purple blur that was all she could see appeared right in front of her, its jaws wide as it bit down on the bubble.

"This...isn't good." She whimpered fearfully, biting her lip so much that it bled. The bubble, which normally was unflappable, was pulsing and rippling, buckling under the toothless pressure. It was particularly noticeable around her left knee, where the energy was being pushed in so far, on both sides, that it was almost touching her skin. And her blood ran cold, for even the greatest of idiots could see that it was about to completely fail her.

_No, it can't end like this._ She shook her head, hyperventilating as hysterics began taking over._ This can't be my time. I don't want to die. I want to see my family again, at least one more time. And Ron. I still have to tell him just how much I love him. and my friends still need me. Someone, anyone, please save me. Please!_

"NO, KIM!" Raimundo's voice was almost as load as the Hunter's roar as his eyes narrowed in on what was happening. Within an instant, all the pain coursing through his torn up body disappeared and he found himself ten feet in the air as he whipped his hands into his pockets, pulling out almost everything he had.

"Crest of the Condor!" He shouted, shoving on the gauntlet a mere second before the armour extended right up his arm, glowing lightly. "Eye of Dashi, Sword of the Storm!" The gold sword glowed brilliantly in his left hand as the jewelled necklace was shoved into its place at the top of the hilt before decorating the blade with electricity. "BLADE OF THE NEBULA!" The purple blade held firmly in his right, armoured hand was surrounded by swirling wind as Rai swung both blades forward. As they met, the blades crossed over each other and from the centre of the created X, the biggest vortex Raimundo had ever created was released. Hurricane winds and abundant lightning crashed right into its back.

The Hunter's entire body gave a huge, violent jerk the moment it struck, writhing in pain and squealing as loud as it could. Although Kim covered her ears as a particularly viscous jerk of its head tossed her out passed multiple bolts of lightning, Rai stubbornly refused, choosing only to back up as his face scrunched up painfully, eliciting a shrill cry as blood started leaking from his left ear. However, despite it all, he pressed on with his attack, determined to destroy the beast.

"Unbelievable." Dojo muttered, watching the powerful vortex in awe, despite what was going on. "Even with Shen Gong Wu and Wudai weapons, I haven't seen a monk produce that much power in centuries. Not that any have ever managed to combine so many artefacts, but still! The last time I saw something like that was in the days of the Xiaolin Dragon of the Sky. I wonder if it means anything?"

Rai gritted his teeth, his arms starting to shake as the power he unleashed continued to rage. His move definitely benefitted him, as it unleashed an enormous level of power without draining any of his own, however, the combined assault was creating a very strong recoil, straining his muscles. And the creature, though writhing at an increasing pace, was still very much 'alive'.

"I've...got...to...AAHH!" The others tensed as Rai's arms gave out. The muscles throughout their entire length feeling like they were on fire, the force inflicted upon them flung them as far out to his sides as they would go, dislocating the right one and forcing him to drop his Blade of the Nebula as his whole body was shot back into the stone wall. Stunned, his arm useless and missing a weapon, he was completely helpless as the Hunter of the Dark recovered, pointing its malicious, red eyes dead on him, preparing to pounce.

"NO! Thunderclap!" Just as the Heartless leaped, Ryo brought his enlarged palm straight down onto the ground between it and its prey. With a flash of yellow light, the floor exploded, flinging debris as of from catapults at the Hunter and stopping it right in its tracks. It didn't stop there though, for the breaking stone continued on under its feet and plummeted to the floor below, taking the immobile Heartless with it.

"That should buy us a minute." Ryo said raggedly, though he never stopped glaring at the beast below him.

"But no more." Mickey grimaced, nursing a blood covered arm. "Everyone get good and close to me." Not bothering to question him, everyone quickly followed him as he approached the still stunned wind dragon.

"ARGH!" The mouse king didn't even bother telling Rai that he was resetting his arm when he reached him. Happy with its placement, he whipped around to the group and forced up his Keyblade, hoping that all the others were in range.

"Curaga!" The teens gasped both in astonishment and relief as the soothing light released itself from the Keyblade on not one person, but the entire group, reducing even their biggest cuts into minor abrasions. From what Kim could tell, the spell didn't take any more energy out of Mickey than Roxas' spell, however, neither he, nor Namine, had ever managed to heal more than one person at the same time. Mickey's way was much quicker and far less taxing. It was suddenly clear to all of them why he was a Keyblade Master.

Unfortunately, they didn't even have time to say thank you. For just as the light faded, the Hunter jumped right through the hole, snarling worse than ever as he pounced right at them. Unprepared and significantly slower than the Hunter, the group could only watch on with paling faces as magenta claws cut through the air right for them.

_We're dead._ Was the only thing going through Raimundo, Dojo, Kim and Ryo's minds. Mickey and Goofy however, never stopped to think. Their brows furrowing with determination, the two acted solely on the instinct to protect and jumped to meet the assault. The clang of claws meeting weapons was enough to hurt the surprised spectators' ears as the two sides struggled to overpower the other and it seemed like they were making headway as Mickey's Keyblade slipped between claws and struck the much more vulnerable, purple flesh. However, that action proved to be their downfall. Roaring again and breaking their concentration as their ears screamed in agony, it swung its other paw as hard as it could and crashed it right into the duo.

The Guardians watched, horror struck and in slow motion, as the claws Goofy's shield before ripping him off the ground as the claws dug deeply into his chest, his face contorted with immense pain. It only continued from there, for before the highest claws had even disconnected from Goofy, another clashed with Mickey's Keyblade with so much force that Mickey's whole body was forcefully turned, leaving his back vulnerable and piercing it. Mickey's eyes widened and he choked on blood as he was ripped from his feet and tossed off of the claw with a jerk, crashing lifelessly on the ground five feet away.

_That thing just..._ Ryo thought, looking like he was going to be sick.

_No, they can't be..._ Tears were already running rivers down Kim's eyes as she watched the bodies bounce slightly as they hit the ground like lifeless dolls.

_It killed them!_ Ice had settled at the pit of Raimundo's stomach as he stared at Goofy in particular, unable to do so much as breathe. Between that and the shock, he almost passed out and would have were it not for what happened next.

Four gasps echoed throughout the passageway as both bodies began to glow. They had seen people become Heartless over their monitors at the satellite, and they were fully aware that Mickey and Goofy may have been forced through that transition rather than killed, but this one still shocked them. Like the usual occurrences, a pink light slowly grew from the centre of Goofy's chest and Mickey's back before releasing themselves from their bodies in the form of two pink hearts, however, both bodies had also taken on a white and gold glow that thinly outlined their bodies. They'd seen bodies disappear before, whisked off to the place that they'd awaken as Nobodies, but no previous victim had glowed like that.

However, as much as it confused them, it would have to wait for later. For now, not only did they still have the Hunter of the Dark to fight, they were now down three people. And what was worse was that Mickey and Goofy's hearts were starting to emit a black, outer glow, signifying the conversion to Heartless would shortly be completed.

"What do we do now?" Dojo whimpered, his body shaking like an earthquake as the Hunter and the fully formed Shadows turned all their attention to the remaining four warriors. "We haven't got a chance of winning without Mickey's Keyblade and light magic and now we have two more enemies."

"The only thing we can do." Kim answered shakily, struggling to get herself back under control as the Heartless approached, it's paw raised to kill. "Keep fighting and hope for a miracle."

"One miracle coming up." All four flinched as something grabbed hold of them, followed by a tingling sensation covered their entire beings, distracting them so much that they failed to move away from the attacking claws. However, oversized promises of death went right through them.

_The ghosts!_ Kim smiled as she turned to find one of the birds folding its wings around her arms, though her attention was quickly brought back to the fight as small, pink smoking missiles soared right into the Hunter and exploded before it could even put its foot back on the ground, sending it stumbling to the side.

"She knows how to make and entrance." Ryo grinned as Valerie flew by, her missile launchers already receding as two long barrelled laser grew on her arms and fired pink beams at the Hunter before it could stabilise itself. It stumbled again, but this time it found the hole and fell for the second time to floor below. Only this time, it crashed with a mighty bang on its back instead of on its feet, its spines puncturing and cracking the floor below.

The attacks didn't stop there. Unlike the heroes, the ghosts didn't bother waiting for the beast to return, opting to chase after it. Wulf in particular went nuts, his lengthened claws slashing away from one end of the Hunter to the other, howling the whole time. The pup had changed into is bear sized form and was forever slashing and biting away at its head while the others battered and tore away randomly along the body.

"Thanks for the help." Rai said appreciatively, sparing Valerie a grin before turning to the charging Shadows. "Tangle Web Comb!" Each tooth of the comb burst forth like vines as he held it up and quickly snared what used to be the distressed monk's allies, tying them up together before he disconnected the hair from the comb and left them there. He could have just destroyed them, but he couldn't find the strength to do it. They were after all, people he cared for. "But how did you find us?" He asked as he shook his head, clearing his thoughts as he turned back to the Red Huntress.

"Easy, phased through everything and follow the carnage." Valerie shrugged, an amused grin spreading across her face. "Works every time. You metahumans don't know the meaning of the word stealthy. So where are the others?"

"They took another passage to get Gohan and Gwen." Kim respond before turning sad and hesitant. "That is, except for Mickey and Goofy. They're over there." She said, pointing to the Shadows. "And over there." She added, moving her finger towards the bodies.

"Oh God!" Even through the tinted mask, it was clear that her dark skin was paling very quickly.

However, they could say nothing more, at that moment, a bellowing roar shook the entire area right as a flash of black and purple burst right through the hole, carrying with it every ghost that had been fighting, all of them looking thoroughly beaten and crashing into walls, denting and cracking them before flopping down to the floor, none of them rising again. A second later, The Hunter shot back up after them. Only now, his body was covered with purple energy dancing over the surface of its skin like fire and the red glow of its eyes had magnified.

"Great, now it looks ten times as tough." Dojo screamed, flying so high up to get away from it that his head hit the ceiling.

"Then lets destroy it quickly." Valerie growled, raising her arms. This time, in addition to the lasers on her arms, two more smaller ones grew out of her shoulders and the missile launcher revealed itself from the bottom of her board. With a battle cry worthy of Vegeta, she fired all of her weapons at once, aiming right for the centre of the Hunter's head.

Unfortunately, the assault never hit. For right before it would have hit, the Hunter of the Dark growled and released a purple pulse from its entire body, destroying every missile and neutralising every beam before pressing on and crashing into everything and everyone around it, eliciting wails of pain from everyone living and conscious as it flung them in all directions.

However, it didn't stop there. The energy coating the beast intensified so much that it looked like the Hunter was made of energy as it charged right through the hallway, flinging everyone and every ghost again before turning around and repeating the process. Moving so fast that the hallway looked like it had a purple streak, none of them had a chance to even recover before they were struck again and again. None of them were even sure how they were surviving the blows. Besides Ryo, none of them were normally capable of enduring anything close to the strength of them impacts and it was clear they weren't going to for much longer. They'd all already lost the ability to scream from the pain, bones had broken and their bodies were cover in bruises and open wounds. Kim was even well aware that a snapped rib may have even pierced one of her lungs.

"I gotta help somehow!" Dojo muttered desperately, breathing deeply and sweating profusely. His high altitude had allowed him to avoid the charging assault, even after being struck by the pulse dropped him a good halfway down before he recovered, but the Heartless was moving at such incredible speed that he'd only become another victim or hurt his friends if he tried anything. And it was only getting worse, not only because the teenagers' chances of living decreased dramatically with each blow, but because the Shadows had cut themselves free and were just waiting for the chance to rip out a heart. He tried as hard as he could to devise some sort of plan, but nothing he thought of could possibly work.

"It's hopeless! As long as that thing can move there's nothing I can d..." It was at that moment that a light bulb went on over his head. A plan had come to mind. It was bold, unexpected, possibly suicidal and promised pain, but it could work. He'd just need a little help to enhance his chances. Hopefully Rai could do it.

_Well, here it goes._ And for what was probably the first time since the Sapphire Dragon disaster, Dojo dispelled every bit of his fear in his mind and dived right towards the ground, just to the side of the purple streak.

"Rai, get the comb ready!" He shouted as fiercely as he could, continuing to pick up speed.

His cry seemed to give everyone a jolt. It may have been because they had something to hope for or just because their bodies had been so injured that they were numb to the pain, but suddenly all four of them were moving with newfound strength. Valerie forced her body around so her board was between her and the streak and was flung up into the air, away from the Hunter's reach. Ryo forced up his metal arm and curled as much of his body as he could behind it, letting the metal take the bulk of the force while Kim randomly fired her small, wrist mounted hook upward and used the retraction of the rope to pull her limp form up.

Raimundo however, didn't move to evade. Instead, he forced the blackness from his mind away and sluggishly, but surely, pulled out the comb. Just as Dojo was about to smack into the ground.

A split second before his nose could touch stone; the green dragon pulled an almost perfect ninety degree turn and zipped right into the lower part of the purple streak, hoping desperately that luck was on his side...

"YES!" the entire room echoed with his loud, joyous cheer as he met sharp claws, wincing at the stinging sensation of them cutting his underbelly, and wrapped himself tightly around what he discovered were its back pair of ankles just as it was turning to face the others again. A startled cry left its mouth at the sudden obstruction of movement and its head hit the floor. However, it was quick to pull itself back and snarled down between its legs, raising a front paw to scratch back even as it tried spreading its back legs.

"RAI, HELP! It's like a torture device here!" Dojo begged, his voice coming out wheezy as his eyes closed tightly.

"Tangle...Web Comb!" Raimundo managed between gasps, releasing the vine like hair coils again, desperately hoping that he was focused enough to use it. It would either help Dojo constrain the Hunter, or it would wrap tightly around Rai and probably kill him in his medical nightmare condition. However, it seemed that his calming and focusing practice had finally paid off, for the hair circled around the Hunter's front legs and snapped them tightly together. With both legs tied, the Hunter's balance was completely shot. A couple of seconds later, it flopped heavily onto its side, making a nice hole in the already damaged wall.

"OOOFFFF! EEEEKKKK!" The only problem was that it landed on Dojo's head.

With the creature stopped, if only temporarily, Ryo, Valerie, Kim and the ghost all quickly dropped to the ground with Rai, some coming in for softer landings than others. However, all of them flopped as they reached it and none could so much as raise a finger again as darkness claimed most of their vision. In moments, all of the still living fighters would be unconscious, and before long, dead. At that point, only Valerie had any chance of recovering, the nanotech Technus placed within her that creates her suit and weapons struggling to accelerate her healing process. And not one of them could do a thing to stop the quickly approaching Shadow duo.

_Well...we did everything we could._ Ryo thought, watching calmly through one half lidded eye as the Shadows walked within three feet of him and the Hunter struggled and slowly tore away its bonds. There was nothing he or the others could do to stop any of it now. There was only one thing he could do...die with dignity. _At least I'm not dying fighting a tree._ Closing his eye completely as the Shadows stood right over him, Ryo let his face relax, accepting his fate.

"Darkness!" However just before the black claws could pierce what remained of his cracked armour, a blade covered in black energy sliced off a Shadow's head.

"Light!" A Keyblade coated with white energy followed less than a second later, destroying the other. Surprised, Ryo half opened his eye again to see Sora and Riku running passed on either side of his body, jumping at the Hunter just as it broke the rope of hair.

"Twilight Art!" Moving in perfect synchrony, the boys struck it right in the chest, their blade leaving a black and white cross of residual energy behind as they landed on the opposite side of where they started and the Hunter was flung up onto its hind legs.

"Well what do you know! They made it." Ryo let a very small smile cross his face right before his eye closed again, the darkness finally taking him.

"Perfect timing." Rai whispered, watching three figures swoop in overhead as his eyes slipped closed too. Kim and Valerie could only grunt their agreement.

"Aura Burst!" His fiery aura growing to match that of his eyes, Gohan focused the energy and fired it right into the fading X just as the Hunter was starting to drop back down.

"Say goodbye!" Danny yelled, firing the most intense ectoplasmic energy blast he could.

"And burn!" Jake exclaimed, taking a deep breath before blowing out flames as hard as he could. At the same time on the ground, both Riku and Sora jumped back from the beast and pointed their Keyblades at it. Lights twirled around both tips for a second before releasing light beams twice the width of the blade tips.

Seeing the four extra blasts coming, Dojo quickly pulled away and shot into the air as fast as he could. A wise move, for the moment the five attacks united, the force ripped right through the Hunter of the Dark. Throwing its head back, the monstrosity that should never had existed began to disfigure and warp its body before finally, it glowed a very dark purple and exploded, filling the entire area with black smoke. The most powerful Heartless of all was no more.


	14. Final Battle: The Keybearer's Sacrifice

**AN:** Hey, sorry about the overly long wait. It took a while to right and MUCH longer to convince my beta guy to check it over. On the bright side I've given you a huge chapter, so forgive me?.

Just gonna say thank you again to the people reviewing, sending me PMs and setting this story into favorites and alerts. Makes it worthwhile to write.

Speaking of which, Megaman Zero 2.0 suggested some new characters and scenarios to add in the future and I've agreed with a few of them so I was curious if anyone else had heroes or villains they want to make an appearance. If you have an idea I'll be happy to consider them.

* * *

><p><strong>Final Battle! The Key's Sacrifice<strong>

While the others were stretching, groaning or relaxing their tense muscles, Namine, Kairi and Sora dropped to the ground, taking in deep breaths and trying to gather their strength. Raimundo, Kim, Ryo and Valerie were all in severe conditions by the time they'd reached them, horrifying everyone who saw them and astounding them that they were still alive. It had taken the bulk of Namine's restored power to get them all stable and healing them all close enough to a full recovery had left her and the light Keybearers all struggling to remove the black spots from their eyes.

"Are you sure you don't need healing too?" Sora asked a little sluggishly as he stood and picked up the little dragon. Though tired out, both from fighting and healing magic, he was a fair bit stronger than the girls and only had Roxas' level of talent in healing, not Namine's gift or Kairi's enhancing talents so he was back on his feet easily enough.

"No, no, I'm fine. Thanks anyway." Dojo smiled. "It's best that you save your strength and I'm not all that hurt."

"Dojo probably won't be fighting anymore anyway." Rai added, helping a grateful Namine to her feet. "Ben, Roxas, Donald and, until we get her powers back, Gwen are helpless right now. It'd be best if he stays back and protects them." He finished with a questioning look at the aforementioned green reptile.

"You bet. This way I can say that I helped without getting blown right into the middle of it." Dojo nodded, grinning mischievously, much like the monk.

"Before we do anything else, does someone want to explain what's happened to the King and Goofy?" Riku exclaimed, looking quite panicked as he pointed at the duo's still glowing bodies.

"The Heartless ripped their hearts out. They were the shadows that you destroyed." Kim answered sadly, causing Riku to freeze. "Their bodies started glowing as soon as their hearts were released. We don't have a clue why."

"But I have a way of finding out." Said Gwen. However, she didn't turn to the bodies, but rather her cousin. "Or rather, Ben can find out."

"What, me?" Ben was so stunned that he almost dropped Roxas. "How could I possibly do it? The Omnitrix was destroyed and even if it wasn't, I never had any aliens that played with magic."

"No, but you have magic. Roxas told you, remember?" Gwen replied. Moving behind him, she gently lowered Roxas to the ground and pushed Ben's back, leading him to the fallen bodies.

"Yeah, but it's weak and it revolves around mental stuff, like premonition or memory." Ben argued.

"Sensing magic is a mental art." Gwen rolled her eyes. "And that's not all you can do anyway. You're a sorcerer Ben, even if your magic specialises in the mental arts, you can still cast spells. You just won't be able to cast powerful ones and your mental skills and power will exceed them."

"Roxas never mentioned that I could cast spells." Ben raised an eyebrow, more out of confusion than anything else.

"Because he saw your magic mostly wrapping around your head and increasing your mental capacities far beyond any of ours." Gwen explained. "You can still cast spells, they just won't be as powerful or as easy to accomplish as they usually would be for someone with your level in power. But we can talk about that later. Right now, we need you to sense the magic around them and tell us what it's doing."

"How?" Ben asked, glancing nervously from his fallen allies to his cousin. "I don't have a clue how you do this."

"Don't worry, I'll walk you through it." Taking his hand, she gently guided him down into his knees and placed it on Goofy's surprisingly warm shoulder. "Take a deep breath and clear your mind." She started slowly. "Next you gather your energy and focus it around your head. In your case it's already mostly there and you're used to gathering power in your transformations, so this should be easy. The next step is to direct it to your eyes. After that, just focus on what you're looking at."

Taking long, slow breaths, Ben did everything she said, ignoring the intrigued eyes watching him. He had to admit she was right. Once he started, wielding this power seemed natural, like he'd known how to do it all along. He smiled as the magic responded to his command, sending a pleasant, soothing feeling through every part of him it touched. It was only a few seconds after Gwen finished talking that he felt the energy fill his eye and his sight changed, leaving the sorceress smiling brightly as the green and white was consumed in a pink glow.

"That's it Ben. Now focus on Goofy and Mickey and tell us what you see."

"The magic seems...solid." Ben responded, a confused tone entering his voice. "It's like a hard cacoon. But there's also magic underneath it. It looks and feels like it's pulsing against the cacoon, but it can't break out. And it's weird. The cacoon's energy on both of them feels a bit like the energy trying to come out of Mickey, but it's...purer I guess is the best word for it, than what's trying to come out."

"They did it on purpose!" Gwen exclaimed, shocking everyone and starling Ben so much that his magic receded to wherever it came from. "Or rather Mickey did."

"What do you mean? How can you tell?" Sora asked, sounding both curious and worried.

"Think about it. When Heartless are created, it is possible for a Nobody to also come into existence if the victim had a strong enough will right?" Gwen asked, getting nods from those from other worlds. "And even if the victim was a weakling, the Nobody would be very powerful. Mickey and Goofy are powerful already, and they have very strong wills, so they'd create powerful Nobodies and could have become a serious threat to us all. So, Mickey's cast a spell to seal their bodies' magic to prevent that from happening if they were defeated by Heartless."

"Seriously? Man, I've never even heard of a spell like that. How did he manage it?" Sora asked excitedly. However, it quickly drained away. "And will it help us get them back?" He asked, this time forlornly.

"Not unless we can find a way to send his heart back to his body, like anyone else." Ben shook his head sadly. "The seal won't let anything in or out, except for their hearts, if my assumption is correct, and it won't fall until either the heart returns or something breaks it. Though that's coming more from my intuition than my understanding of what I saw."

"Then we can't do anything for them now." Gohan stated his voice turning firm. "All we can do is make sure that their sacrifice wasn't in vain. We have to finish this."

"The question is, can we end this?" Jake broke in with a nervous frown, biting his lip. "Roxas, Ben, Gwen, Donald, Mickey, Goofy, they're all out. On top of that, only you, Riku, Danny and I are anywhere near full strength. And we're one door away from the most powerful villains yet. Do we stand even the slightest chance?"

"Wow, this must be bad." Kim couldn't help herself. "When Jake, Rai or Ryo get this far from cocky you know we're doomed."

"Not helping Kim." Danny sighed as morale only continued to fall. Everyone was either closing their eyes and lowering their heads in dread or scratching nervously, looking about ready to flee. Only Gohan, Gwen and Riku stood firm.

"Guys we have to try. It's taken too many sacrifices to get this far to stop now and from what I've gathered is true, Maleficent and her boys are about to become invincible. If we leave now, we'll never get this far again and they'll win for sure. We could very easily die today, but I for one am going to go without regrets. I'm going to do everything I can to stop this destruction from happening everywhere else."

"We're with you on that Gohan." Rai started, though his voice clearly told everyone that he wanted to run. "But how can we hope to accomplish anything?"

"We start by getting Gwen's magic back." He answered. "With it, she should be able to stand up to Maleficent, with a little help, leaving the rest of us only focusing on two."

"A God and a genie." Namine reminded him, her doubt clear to all. "Both at full power. just one of them could take down most of us in our conditions."

"I...might be able to cause Hades grief." Jake spoke up hesitantly, though it was clear to everyone that he had serious doubts in his own statement. "But I won't be able to beat him."

"There's plenty of us here to help with that." Valerie said fiercely, quickly regaining her confidence. "The ghosts included."

"NO!" Danny yelled, surprising everyone. "Hades is the Lord of the Dead. It's risky enough with me going in, we can't give him group of fully dead ghosts to possibly take control of. And even if he can't, who knows what he could do to them?"

"Then they stay and help protect those who can't fight." Riku replied impatiently. He'd had enough of talking. The sooner they blew down those doors and attacked, the less time the psychopaths had to prepare. It wasn't like they had the time for a complex plan and even if they did, Maleficent was probably watching and listening anyway. Summoning his Keyblade once again, he turned and marched right for the giant doors.

"Riku? What are you-" Sora started.

"One way or the other, this ends now." Was his only response, only increasing his pace forward. Taking a deep breath, Sora shoved all his fear to back of his mind and nodded, following after him. Riku was right, this had gone on long enough and Sora wasn't about to let Riku face whatever was to come alone.

Gohan and Valerie followed almost immediately, both looking fierce. They were warriors and not afraid of death. If they had to lay down their lives to save the innocents then so be it and may all who stood in their way of their goal fear the consequences.

Kairi and the remaining Guardians however, were a little more hesitant. They were all scared and though they wouldn't admit it, doubtful of there being any point attempt what was most likely going to be a hopeless battle and a pointless death.

However, that wasn't going to stop them. Steeling himself, Ryo put one foot in front of the other while the others simply decided to stand by their friends and followed.

They weren't likely to live. However, what Gohan had said held true. They had to fight to honour those that sacrificed themselves to get them this far. And if they died too...well, at least they'd die with honour, knowing that they gave it all they could.

...

"They're tougher than I thought." Hades grinned amusedly as he watched the team's healers getting to work. "To think so many of them got this far. This just might prove interesting after all."

"I doubt that." Jafar shrugged, completely uninterested in the magical image. "There might still be a lot of them, but most are reaching their limit. Even without the little...surprise Maleficent has set up, our powers far exceeded theirs."

"True, but don't get too cocky. It never ends well." Maleficent cautioned, cancelling the image of the heroes as they came their way. Setting down her staff for a moment, she put her hand into the folds of her robes and pulled out the blue crystal, letting her own magic dance over its surface and grinning malevolently as she felt Gwen's power pulse at her will. "We shall unleash our full fury on them."

Scowling, Jafar went to retort, but before he could the giant doors blew up with a deafening bang, spewing debris in all directions. Though all of it turned to ash long before it could touch Hades, Maleficent and Jafar were not so fortunate and had to shield themselves with their robes.

"Knock knock." Straightening their postures as the cold voice met their ears and the debris receded, the villainous trio found a livid Gohan standing right in the middle of the doorframe, a hand raised and still glowing from the blast he'd unleashed. On his right stood Riku, Sora, Kairi, Namine and Valerie, all bearing fierce glares and either a raised Keyblade, daggers or two wrist mounted ecto guns. On his right stood Rai, Ryo, Danny, Kim and Jake. Their glares just as firm, each one was tense and ready. Rai already had the Crest of the Condor activated, his arm poised to strike alongside Ryo's metal one. Danny had opted to raising the Fenton nine tails. Kim and Jake however, had forgone weapons, merely raising their fists and claws.

"Hmm, the kid has a flare for the dramatics. I like it." Hades commented casually. "Nothing says extravagant like blowing up the door on the way in."

"Ok, not what I expected from a dark God." Kim couldn't help but mutter, her glare slipping into confusion, though only for a split second.

"Oh trust me, he'll look more the part when he gets irritated. Don't let his aloft attitude fool you." Sora snarled. However, it was more to hide his anxiety than anything else. The simple fact was that without Herculeses and Auron, he'd never have survived his encounters with Hades. He only hoped that their combined power and skill was enough.

"This is where it ends." Gohan growled, turning his eyes from one villain to the next. "Right here and right now."

"I have an idea." Said Jafar, floating into the air. "What do you say that we skip all the clichés and get right down to the brawl?"

"Fine by me!" Riku snapped, jumping forward. Landing in the centre of the room, he slammed his glowing Keyblade into the ground and sent five small streaks of darkness through it, one heading to Hades, two to Maleficent and two shooting skyward towards Jafar.

Not one streak hit as the three villains simultaneously teleported themselves to different parts of the room, but before they could retaliate Gohan, Ryo and Danny had shot right into their faces.

"Have a nice trip!" Gohan snapped, snap kicking Jafar in the chest.

"See you next fall!" Ryo smirked, unleashing his thunderclap right into Hades' head.

"We need new clever quips!" Danny shouted, ensnaring Maleficent with the nine tails and flinging her down. All three villains went bug eyed as they shot down and crashed into the ground.

It didn't end there. Three different light blasts, dragon fire, a lightning bolt and a blue and two pink beams were all fired simultaneously, unleashing around the same amount of power at each villain and blowing them all back towards the other side of the room with shocked screams.

However, any pride or satisfaction the young heroes felt at their accomplishment disappeared as the smoke their attacks created cleared, revealing Maleficent, Hades and Jafar standing side by side and looking completely unharmed, the dust and a few rips in their clothes the only signs that anything happened at all.

"Is that the best you can do?" Jafar asked boredly, barely even looking at the flabbergasted teenagers. "It seems I was right Hades. They're not all that strong."

"What do you know, I guess they are all show." Hades sighed, looking almost disappointed. Though the look quickly changed to a dark grin.

"Impossible!" Sora cried, his voice shaking at the sight before him. The three of them were all extremely powerful, the strongest forces of evil he'd ever had the displeasure to run across outside the Heartless Ansem, but he could still hurt them. On top of that, all the Guardians had real power, hell Gohan was far stronger than him, and yet they still didn't even leave so much as a scratch! "That should have...they've never been invulnerable! How aren't they hurt?"

"Consider it an upgrade." Maleficent sneered, raising her hand. Gohan had just enough time to gasp as he caught sight of the crystal before it pulsed blue and green.

"Gwen's magic!" He shouted, dropping before the team. Panicking, he just managed to throw up a large energy dome before blackish green and blue magic surged right for them. however, it appeared unphased by Gohan's defence and spread out over it, shaping itself like a spider web and pushing down on the dome. Gohan grunted as the spell took shape, his entire form tensing visibly and his face scrunching up in intense determination. The pressure was immense and it was taking everything he had to stop his force field from popping like a balloon.

"Impressive child, but insufficient." Jafar smirked, raising his left hand as it developed a red glow. Gohan froze as he felt Jafar's energy mix with his own. A second later, Maleficent's web glided right through his shield like it wasn't even there and dropped down faster than any of them could react, crashing on them and knocking them to the floor with startled cries and minor grunts.

"What did he do?" Gohan cried gobsmacked, struggling and failing to free himself. The web was as sticky as that of a spider's and much thicker and tougher. Not particularly resistant to magic, even Gohan couldn't break through it.

"Simple, I altered the flow of your energy to free up space wherever the web resided." Jafar said casually, scanning over all the captured heroes with a superior grin. "Manipulating and reshaping energy in all its forms is the nature of magic after all."

"I've never even seen Donald pull off a trick like that!" Sora grunted, his face scrunched up in pain due to a web thread pressing down hard on his temple and pushing the other into the stone. "Or Maleficent and this is the first time Jafar's tweaked our powers. It makes me worried about what other tricks he might have learned."

"Oh, no need to worry." Hades smiled malevolently, raising his hands above his head. Kim sucked in a loud breath and her body stiffened in terror as she watched the flames around Hades' hands turn red and spin in circles before soaring up and gathering above him. It only took a few before a fireball the size of your average car was completed. "In fact, there'll be no need to ever worry about things again. Fry now." He added cheerfully, and with a casual wave of his fingers, he sent the ball down, right at them.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Unable to move a finger much less protect themselves, Raimundo, Kairi, Namine, Sora and Valerie shut their eyes and screamed. The rest of them could only tense up and stare in fear, denial and desperation as the source of their death turned into blue flames and dropped down onto them, already feeling the incredible heat it produced.

"NO!" From where he'd been watching back in the hallway with Gwen, Dojo and the unconscious and post living, Ben broke out into a run, effortlessly leaping over Dojo's large, coiled form.

"BEN, COME BACK!" Desperate to save his friends, Ben ignored Gwen completely and just ran faster while simultaneously concentrating on gathering his magic. He knew that it was pretty pathetic compared to everyone else's and he had no training in it, but he had to try. His eyes started glowing pink again within a few steps and it was in that moment that he almost stopped as an image flashed across his mind of Sora on his knees being consumed in a bright light, but he paid it no mind and focused as hard as he could into controlling his power.

_Please let this work!_ Was the only thought that crossed his mind as he made it through the doors. With only a few seconds left, he jumped as high as he could and threw up his hands as he landed on an indignant Danny's back. "Contego!"

The relief Ben felt was so intense that it rolled off of him in waves as a large pink barrier appeared before him. A slight bit of irritation crossed his mind as he realised what colour magic he'd produced, not having noticed it before, but it was quickly overwhelmed and vanished completely as the fireball crashed into the shield. Though not powerful by anyone's standards, the shield proved to be sufficient as the fireball failed to pass it and exploded on impact.

"Oh, thank God." Gwen sighed, looking about ready to collapse as her fear dispersed. If that had been a flamethrower, Ben's shield would have been useless. Heck, with how little power Ben had and how little of it he actually managed to put into the spell, even when she saw the pink barrier appear she'd feared that the fireball would just blow through or consume it. Words couldn't describe how relieved she was that the flames weren't as stable as she'd feared.

"WAAHH!" However, the shield also failed to survive the collision and its destruction released a small shockwave that, though saving all the teens from the flames, blew Ben right off his feet, leaving him landing with his back pressed and sticking to the magical web and Jake's wing.

"ARGH! Your shoulder just struck a joint!" Jake cried, trying desperately to remove the painful pressure from his wing.

"Sorry." Ben groaned, turning his head to the dragon apologetically. "I'd get off, but I'm stuck now too."

"I don't believe it!" Hade's exclaimed, confused as to whether be impressed or insulted. "That little pipsqueak has just enough magic to fill a soda bottle and he still managed to stop my fire?"

"It appears that you're slipping Hades." Maleficent commented, amused by the situation and even more so by the scowl growing on the Greek God's face. However, she only caught that through the corner of her eye, for her interest lay in the boy. His magic had never been focused before, that much was clear both from what she could sense and how little he'd summoned, yet not only had he managed to cast a spell, but it was solid, perfectly cast. No doubt he'd watched his cousin before, but the fact that it came out so perfectly on the first try spoke volumes of his potential talent.

_He'd make a good apprentice. _She mused. _His power is lacking, but that could be a good thing. He'd never succeed in defeating me no matter what I taught him. I'd have to do something about his righteous nature, but with my power that should be easy enough to handle._

Meanwhile, unnoticed by the snickering and scowling villains, Namine was already back at work, reaching out with her mind. She sighed in relief as she felt the minds of Ben and Gwen connecting with her own. With the magical knowhow of their adversaries, she'd feared that they may have blocked her most dangerous gift.

'_Gwen, is there any spell Ben can use to break us free?'_ She asked quickly, startling the pair of them. _'We don't have much time here.'_

'_Yeah, I know one.'_ Gwen replied instantly. _'Ben, repeat after me.'_

"Turbo!" Opening his hand flat, Ben focused as much power as he could into it as he cast the spell and grinned as a tornado made of pink magic roughly half the size of his leg rose from his palm. Shifting his hand, he guided it to the magic webbing as Gwen instructed him and watched with a huge smile as the swirling magic sucked the webbing up like water to a sponge and grew, the three colours mixing and shifting around each other. As the last of Maleficent and Gwen's power was sucked into his spell, Ben took Gwen's directions again and thrust his hands towards the startled villains, sending the shifting horizontal tornado right at them.

To say Maleficent, Hades and Jafar were stunned was an understatement. The idea that a weak, novice magician could manipulate the power of another's spell was ridiculous, yet here they were, facing down a vortex made up majorly of Maleficent's own magic. Jafar was so gobsmacked that he barely managed to raise his hand in time. But react he did and like Gohan's shield, he altered the shape of the vortex and made it dissipate harmlessly around them.

"An impressive trick, but insufficient against a being made of incredible magic." He sneered as Ben fell onto all fours. It was clear to all, magical or not, that he was already drained too far to cast even the smallest of spells. "You lack the power to have any hope of ever causing someone like me grief."

"You thinks so huh?" Jafar felt a cold shiver run down his back at the sound of the low, icy voice coming from behind him. It was at that moment that the last of the vortex disappeared and he realised his mistake: the spell holding down the still active heroes was gone and they had used Ben's spell not to attack, but to cover their actions. There was nothing but a split second after the voice before a flash of green exploded into his back, flinging him screaming away from his associates. Before he even began to slow down Riku appeared out of nowhere and Way To Dawn struck his side and propelled him to the right.

"Typhoon Boom Wind!" a fierce shockwave of wind, enhanced by the Crest of the Condor, slammed down into him next and sent him pile driving right at the ground only for the glowing Ultima Blade to intercept him and slash his chin. The end result was a rather satisfying, reverberating crash into a stone wall.

Jafar wasn't the only one taken for a ride though. Hades barely had time to blink before a ki encased foot stomped right on his face, knocking him flying backwards while at the same time a spiralling stream of what looked like white sparkles ran straight towards Maleficent.

Unfortunately, Maleficent was far more prepared and blocked the spell with a casual wave of her staff, grinning darkly as its caster, Kairi, gritted her teeth.

"Please don't tell me that's the best that a Princess of Heart and Keybearer can do." She sneered, raising her staff. But whatever she'd planned to do was quickly cut off as flicker in her field of vision just managed draw her attention and allow her to throw up her staff defensively just before a white clad foot would have smacked into the side of her head.

"Away with you, powerless fool!" Maleficent snapped, blowing a screaming Kim back with a small green flash from her staff.

"We'll show you powerless!" Valarie growled, soaring in crouched down on her board as a missile launcher appeared from below and fired away.

Unimpressed, Maleficent merely waved the crystal and stopped them in their tracks before, with the slightest twitch of her hand, sent them right back.

"ARGH!" Caught off guard and unable to respond, Valerie flew right into them, the resulting explosion knocking her clean off her board and doing some impressive damage to her suit before she crashed hard into the ground.

"Like I said, powerless fools, one and all." Maleficent drawled, looking quite irritated. "I grow weary of this display of incompetency. Forces of evil, unleash thy power!" As she shouted her command, the dark sorceress threw both her hands up at her sides and both the blue crystal and the green one of her staff flared with astounding and malevolent light.

"EVERYONE MOVE!" Kairi screamed. The power she could feel Maleficent unleashing was enormous, more than she'd ever felt from even Mickey or Donald. As she raised her Keyblade defensively before her face, the fact that it could very well kill them all could not removed from her head.

Flipping back to her feet, Kim ran straight for the struggling Valerie as what looked like two giant fireworks went off before Maleficent. Seeing them, she almost stopped to mock the evil spell caster's pretty display, but desperately increased her pace with a look of horror as she realised that not only had the fireworks not faded, but each speck of light had turned into a fast moving beam angling right for them. Jumping and flipping over the first to reach them, Kim just barely reached her target in time to put up a force field before Valerie would have been effectively obliterated.

Kairi however, wasn't even close to the other girls and jumping and dancing around faster than she'd ever moved before. Though thoroughly terrified, she stood her ground and pulled feats that she never thought she was capable of, flipping over, sliding passed and deflecting almost every shot to come near her with her Keyblade. The occasional ones got passed her guard and sideswiped her arms, hips and legs with quite a bit of force and had her screaming in pain, but even so she still managed to alter her form and use the momentum they gave her to avoid or deflect the next oncoming beam. If the first wave had been the end, all three girls would have been ok, but unfortunately more fireworks were exploding into existence. As that fact registered, both fighting redheads paled considerably; neither Kim's shield or Kairi's stamina would last through a second wave.

"Oh we are SO dead!" Kim cried, not taking her dinner plate sized eyes off the incoming assault. Behind her, the newly recovered Valerie could only nod in agreement.

"Oh no you're not! Justice Burst!" The girls cheered with both shock, relief and joy as a barrage of small, purple electrical blasts zoomed by like bullets all around them and colliding with the beams, eliciting explosions as the two attacks cancelled each other out. Few beams made it through the proud Justiman's assault at all and only one managed to be on target.

A fact that Maleficent was quick to curse, for with the distraction of evading countless blasts, Kairi was more than capable of deflecting the beam right back at Maleficent, who, thanks to the smokescreen of the explosions, failed to even notice it until it had hit her hip and sent her stumbling back.

"Man, do you have the best timing or what?" Kairi puffed, smiling gratefully at Justiman as the cocky hero stepped up in front of the girls.

'Just doing my job ma'am." Justiman grinned before turning a scowl towards the witch. He didn't need the clearing smoke to go away to know they were still in real danger, he'd watched Maleficent through his heat scanner the whole time and knew full well that she hadn't even sagged, much less hit the ground. "Be ready, this is far from over."

"Thank you captain obvious." Kim rolled her eyes as the smoke cleared, revealing the snarling sorceress. "If it was that easy to take this crone down, she would have been in chains two minutes after meeting Gwen, not terrorising our whole planet."

"An interesting move. One I didn't expect, I admit." Maleficent commented, her eyes fixated on Justiman's half covered face. "But your power will not protect you from mine. Strong and impressive as you are, your assistance will not change the end result of this battle."

"That's where yours and my opinions differ." Justiman retorted as he jumped her way, his metal hand growing quickly. "Thunderclap!" He quickly slammed it into the ground before she could react and released a vicious shockwave that shattered all it touched and sent shooting right for Maleficent only for her to levitate high into the air.

"Such a lousy parlour trick." She sneered, pointing her staff down and retaliating with a blackish green beam. The ground ducked and dived out of the way, leaving it to crash into the ground and toss debris as well, before Kairi and Valerie a fireball and a pink ecto blast respectively. Though Maleficent easily blew them aside, they kept her perfectly distracted while Kim and Ryo shot into the air after her.

"Voltage Blade!"

"AAH!" What looked like a rectangular plate of blue glowing glass was the only thing that saved Maleficent from being cut in half as Ryo brought his energy blade down on her head. However, despite his failure, he still managed to grin, something that sent Maleficent on high alert.

Too little, too late, for at the risk of her life she'd completely ignored Kim and the non- super powered teen was quick to take advantage of it.

"Thanks for the gift." Maleficent roared in rage as a smirking Kim blew passed and ripped her staff right out of her hands.

"RETURN MY STAFF AT ONCE!" Maleficent's roar was clearly heard by everyone in the room despite the bangs, cries and explosions going off every few seconds as she turned to Kim, though making sure that the blue panel exploded and tossed off Justiman, raising her hand as it glowed blue, black and green. Between her rage and the power gathering and growing in her hand, it was clear that the next spell would hurt if it hit.

"Thunder!" Fortunately for Kim, Kairi had seen it too and the lightning bolt she summoned, though basic, hit home right in the centre of Maleficent's back, reducing her gathering power to nothing as she screamed and spasmed. It didn't last long though and even Ryo couldn't hold back a shiver at the look of merciless rage that had grown on Maleficent's face.

Things weren't going too well against the other two either.

"Say monkey boy, why don't we try a ring of fire act?" Hades grinned, tossing fire rings merrily from each finger. Gohan was quick to respond, never slowing down or changing direction as he evaded every one on his way to the evil God.

"I'm not impressed!" Gohan growled, swivelling around one last group of rings before planting a bone breaking uppercut into Hades' chin. However, his eyes widened as Hades' grin turned into a smirk as he disappeared in a flash of fire and smoke, Gohan only being spared a very painful burn by the energy covering his hand. "Where'd he go?" He cried, forcing down his panic. He couldn't sense the Lord of the Dead's energy at all. He'd still be nearby, so why couldn't he-

"Burn baby, burn!" Gohan gasped as immense heat followed the creepy voice down to him and sucked in a deep, petrified breath as he looked up to find a large, but still very concentrated flamethrower pouring right down on him and it was already too close for him to shield himself from fire that intense.

"I'm d-"

"In a hot spot!" Gohan was cut off as something red and yellow cover his vision. His brain, a little slow from facing death, just managed to register the voice as Jake's as his body pulled into a ball and wrapped within rough scales a mere second before a discomforted grunt was accompanied by a huge amount of pressure and heat. Hisses and groans continued to leave Jake's mouth as the two were blown right into the ground, forcing Jake to wrap his wings around and press harder against Gohan to ensure he was safe from the rebounding flames surrounding them. however, when it was all over, Jake was still able to unwrap himself from the alien hybrid with no more signs of damage than soot, a few burnt scales and Jake tenderly rubbing his back where the attack had been most intense. "Ok, that smarts." He groaned somewhat childishly with a large pout covering his reptilian face. Despite the situation, it was still enough for Gohan to chuckle.

"Thanks for the save." He said appreciatively as he jumped back onto his feet.

"S'all good, sorry it took so long to join back in." Jake shrugged it off, wincing as the action shifted a few burnt scales. "Had to sort out the wing Ben landed on."

"Ok, how are you two still alive?" Hades asked confusedly, not that he looked all that upset about it. "Those flames were more intense than even what most spell casters could ever hope to produce. You should both be burned to a crisp."

"Hello, dragon?" Jake retort as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, pointing to himself. "As in magical creature who breathes and transforms in flashes of fire? I naturally have an extremely high tolerance for fire, DUH!"

"Oh yeah, that's true." Hades shrugged, tapping his head. "No matter. If fire won't do the job, then how about this?" He cackled as a very familiar, eerie green glow appeared over his hands.

"MOVE!" Gohan had only just manage to swing Jake away seconds before a green beam as big as Piccolo blew right through where he'd been standing. Turning around, Gohan what in terrified amazement as it continued on and blew simply enormous holes through every wall until it had reached out side and disappeared into the darkness, an event that captured every hero's attention.

"No way! Hades couldn't do that before!" Sora yelled, his voice filled with fear and disbelief as he dodged red lightning Jafar was summoning by the barrel full.

"That was ghost energy. MY energy!" Danny exclaimed, looking a cross between indignant and scared.

"How did you get that power?" Jake growled, blowing wisps of flames through his nose as he tried to bury his fear behind rage.

"That spitfire of a sorceress managed to get a small sample of ghosty's power before your little do-gooders interrupted her. After that it was easy enough to mix it into my being." Hades smirked, creating an ecto ball and tossing it up and down like it was a tennis ball. "Actually stealing the powers from you was the hard part."

"You have all Danny's powers?" Gohan mumbled, paling considerably. This guy was extremely powerful and even more dangerous with his natural abilities. If he had all Danny's power on top of that...

"...No, unfortunately not." Hades shook his head, though he never stopped looking amused. "The speck Maleficent got wasn't enough for the whole package. I still need him to get the power boost and his other tricks. However, ectoplasmic energy blasts aren't a bad start. Neither is intangibility for that matter. Or..." His grin turned into a very dark sneer then and a moment later even Gohan was visibly shaking at the sight of no less than five copies of Hades. "Cloning." All five finished smugly.

"Dun dun duh, we're dead." Was all Jake, ever the smart aleck dragon, could say.

Jafar was even worse. The moment he'd risen from the initial assault, he'd become unmoveable. They were hard pressed just to get close for the former advisor had black clouds circling all around him at all different levels of altitude, unleashing lightning bolts everywhere. Danny quickly tossed all of his equipment simply to avoid attracting ever bolt of electricity coming down and visibly flinched as it was all obliterated. However, that action had giving both Danny and Raimundo an opening and they fully intended to capitalise on it.

"Dude, that ugly mug of yours is shocking enough on its own." Danny jibed, pulling himself into a spin, raising his hands and unleashing his ice power much like he had against hook, completely freezing all of the clouds level and below him, cutting off the lightning production.

"WIND!" Using a burst of wind from his feet to increase momentum, Rai shot up faster than the eye could see and threw the strongest punch he could right into Jafar's face...

"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" Only to scream as excruciating pain as almost every bone from his knuckles and down his fingers broke, the snapping and crunching audible to everyone nearby. Jafar just smirked victoriously in response, cackling as Sora, Riku and Danny's faces turned panicked, astounded and disbelieving.

"My turn." Jafar's smooth voice was quickly accompanied by a backhand punch of his own that landed squarely where Rai's arm and shoulder met on the opposite side of the broken hand, the thunderous boom of the contact drowning the crunching as more bones were shattered, and sent Rai plummeting at break neck speed to a corner of the room, screaming all the way. It was only a reflexive cacoon of wind and his armour cushioning the impact that save him from an instantaneous death, though it was clear that he'd quickly fall into shock and a much more painful death if he wasn't treated quickly. As it was, he was already swimming in and out of consciousness and in more pain than any of them could imagine.

"Wudai Warrior!" Danny shouted as he created two clones, sending both to check and protect the fallen warrior. He was quite tempted to forget the fight and go to him himself, an urge shared by every Guardian. Unfortunately, Hades and Maleficent only took the event as a reason to press harder, seemingly not wanting to be one upped by the genie and could barely find the time to spare a glance. After a few failed attempts to escape battle, Gohan, Jake and the others were forced to give up and returned all their attentions to their foes, lashing out in vengeance.

"How did you do that?" Sora screamed, quickly turning livid at how smug and pleased with himself Jafar had become. "You were never that strong!"

"You'd be surprised what magic can give you with the right ingredients, such as blood." Jafar smirked, letting his eyes noticeable waver to where Gohan was letting loose a particularly violent dozen ki balls. "Something that Saiyaman was exuding constantly before you all interfered."

"Saiyaman's powers." Danny muttered, everyone in hearing range paling completely white as that thought registered.

"Combined with the magical power of a genie." Sora continued, so horror struck that he could barely stop himself from falling to his knees.

_He's basically unstoppable._ Namine couldn't stop herself from not only shaking, but also opening up a portal to the farthest world she could reach as she made her way to Rai. Between the three of them, every possible weakness that Sora and others had exploited in the past was covered or removed. They were extremely dangerous alone before coming to Earth, but now together and with the powers they'd gained from three of the most impressive Guardians, they were completely invincible. _I might do him a favour if I stab his head and end his life instead._ The thought sickened her, but as much as she hated it, she still felt a ring of truth to it as she started healing Rai. Chances were she was only preparing him for a longer, more painful death.

"This isn't a hospital girl!" Jafar scowled as the light drew his attention. The Danny clones stiffened as he waved his hand and grabbed Namine and Raimundo, just managing to turn them all intangible before deadly stone spikes burst from both the floor and the joining walls.

"Hey, haven't you ever heard the rules of war?" Sora glared, his fear forgotten as his rage took over and tossed his Keyblade like a boomerang. "Medical tent's off limits!"

As a weapon made of magic, Gohan's power couldn't protect Jafar from the blade, forcing him to deflect it with his staff, a move that left him wide open as an invisible Danny swung out his crossed arms and two beach ball sized ecto blasts straight into his chest.

"Oh, do stop that tickles." Jafar drawled with a sly grin, wiping imaginary dust off his robes. Danny frowned hard and bit his lip at the absolute lack of a reaction, but also to hide his grin. Though there strikes had yet to work, they had still managed to hold his attention long enough for his clones to take Namine and Rai back to Gwen and Dojo.

Riku however, seemed to take offense to Jafar's words, for with a great leap he lashed out with a diagonal slash up at Jafar's exposed back, only for the still unfrozen clouds to unleash lightning bolts again. Using a small burst of dark magic, Riku thrust himself back toward the ground while throwing Way To Dawn into the air, letting it draw the lightning away from him before resummoning it to his side and pointing it at Jafar's turban.

"Dark Volley!" With a furious roar, Riku unleashed dozens of rapid fire dark blasts that had Danny yelp and flying as far away as he could. However, Jafar barely turned to look as his eyes flashed red. Not a second later the few blasts reached an inch from Jafar only to stop right in midair.

"Heh, baby magic." Jafar snorted as every shot stopped moving and just floated there alongside the first ones, leaving Riku gritting his teeth frustratedly as he ended his spell. "A Wudai Warrior, a dragon, a Nobody, a magician and four Keybearers and all you have up your sleeves is parlour tricks. How about I give another demonstration of what real magic can do?" With that he raised his index finger and fired a red stream. Quick on his feet, Riku dodged it no problem, however, as it hit the ground and ran through it and right under Riku's feet. Before Riku could so much as gasp, the stone sprung up and wrapped around his legs like vines and continued on to do the same to his arms. Grunting, struggling and squirming with all his might, he failed to notice as Jafar's smirk turned malicious. Then, with the clenching of the genie's hand, thick spikes burst out from the rock vines on all sides. His blood drenching his clothes and the stone Riku threw his head back and released the most agonised scream to be heard all day.

"We're getting slaughtered out here." Kim cried, diving into an army roll as a trio of comets zipped by and flinching at the intense heat they gave off.

"And it's only going to get WORSE!" Maleficent exclaimed as her power flared and swirled around her before, with a thrust of her arms, it exploded outward as streams of green and black fire across the ground. With Kairi pushing Valerie out of the way, each of the young heroes managed to avoid the initial assault, but the flames continued to rise and connect to each other until they formed a large, tall pentagram. The walls of fire cut each teen off from the others, excluding the still united Red Huntress and Princess Keybearer, while Maleficent cackled away in the very centre.

"No." Gwen whispered as she watched on from beside the motionless forms of Ben and the victims, her skin breaking out in sweat as she took deep breaths, her panic reaching new bounds. "No, you have to move!" She shouted, running straight towards the door and into the enemy's firing range as she waved her hands around desperately to get their attention. "You're in a pentagram and they quickly draw ENORMOUS amounts of power to the centre. As long as she's standing there, she's unstoppable."

"Quite true." Maleficent grinned as her opponents turned horror struck. "And anyone within the points is at my mercy!"

"AAHHHH!"Kairi's heart rate went through the roof as she turned to run, only for her body to completely freeze on her within two steps and glow with very distinct aura. It seemed impossible, too horrible to be true! Maleficent hadn't so much as muttered a word and waved a finger and as powerful and talented as she knew Maleficent was, even she couldn't just will things to happen.

Other cries were quick to join hers for once again, without the slightest sound or motion, Maleficent enforced her will upon them and lifted all four of them into the air.

"H-how are you..." Valerie stuttered, all her previous bravado gone with the wind. "You didn't move...o-or say anything."

"Like I said, anything in the points of the pentagram is at my mercy." Maleficent repeated smugly. "As long as I stand in its centre, the pentagram itself can be the channel needed to use my power. I only need the addition of words or actions for the most complex of rituals, so long as my prey also lies within this star."

"Does it handle prey with bite?" Valerie asked, trying to sound tough again as a laser grew out of her shoulder and fired. Maleficent didn't even bat an eyelash as the beam got halfway to her before performing a U-turn and flying right towards the battle with Hades.

A battle that was not going well. Gohan was in a flurry of motion, back flipping, sliding across the ground, army rolling and flying in loops just trying to avoid the flamethrowers and ecto blasts that never seemed to end, Jake doing much the same a few feet away.

One Hades was bad enough. But now, with four clones that were almost as powerful as the original and the constant, fiery teleportation trick being used by all five, it was all they could do just to stay alive and they were tiring fast.

"I can't take this anymore!" Jake growled, looking around in pain induced fury as an ecto ball clipped his tail. His jaw drawing into a snarl as the telltale smoke of Hades' appearance popped into existence fifteen feet away from him, he shot up straight at him as fast as his wings would carry him, ignoring the deadly green beams passing by on either side of him.

His target had clearly been intending to strike Gohan while the Saiyan was trying to correct his flying after a blasts sideswiped his shoulder, for it was spinning flames that appeared in his hands. However, he sucked in a deep, startled breath as He noticed Jake climbing for him and quickly switched targets.

"You might be a dragon, hatchling, but I'm a God! Do you really think you can handle my flames?" Hades jeered as he realest a torrent of extremely powerful flames.

Despite that, Jake didn't change his course. Growling under his breath like a wild animal, he pushed his wings even harder, raised his claws before him and flew right into it.

His every cell screamed at him as the flames consumed him, many of his scales actually burning away. As much as he hated to admit it, Hades was right. There was no way he could withstand such flames for long and he doubted that this was even close to the full extent of Hades' power. But he pressed on anyway, forcing his charring wings to press on up and through, forever closing in on his target.

"NO WAY!" Hades exclaimed, astounded as Jake reached the top of the flamethrower and burst free of it, just as much black as he was red, but still looking fierce and battle ready. His claws red as the fire in his eyes from the super hot flames, Jake ploughed his right hand across Hades' face with so much force that his upper body bent to the left a split second before Jake's left hand slashed through his gut and dug out deep gashes. Hades jerked and spasmed for a second his eyes and mouth wide , before he disappeared, this time imploding in green and grey smoke, very similar to the destruction of Danny's clones.

It was at that moment, when his objective was completed, that the damage he had taken to achieve it finally found clear entry to his brain. He let out a primal roar and tensed and spasmed as a sensation like white fire dancing over his human skin covered his entire being, losing altitude quickly as his wings stiffened and refused to move an inch. He was so lost and drunk on pain that he never noticed another Hades poof nearby, his hands glowing a particularly bright beam as he raised them over his head. A brightness, Gohan realised as he turned to it, that had only been seen before when Danny was putting as much concentrated power as he could into his beams.

"JAKE!" Gohan screamed as an unbearable level of fear ran through his system. Hades was already releasing his blast, one Gohan could sense more power within than even his father could have ever hoped to create, and his reptilian friend would never be able to avoid it in time.

"YAA!" Swinging both his arms out, Gohan unleashed two arcing beams to his sides, effectively halting attacks from the other three Hades', and flew as fast as his body would take him towards Jake...only for a pink beam to strike him in the cheek.

"ARGH!" Unprepared, the blast sent him spiralling out of control and unable to pull to an instant end, Gohan felt his heart freeze. Tears quickly pooled at his eyes as the fact that he could not do anything to save Jake came crashing down upon him and a heart wrenching wail escaped his lips.

But then, just as he had given up all hope of saving the scorched dragon, hope appeared in the form of pure light and Gohan's heartache was replaced by joy as the light grew into a very familiar portal opening right in between Jake and the beam, its sister portal appearing behind the attacking Hades. _Namine, you are too good to be true._ Gohan cheered.

The only problem, one that quickly made Gohan's fear for Jake return, was that it took too long to grow. Though most of the ectoplasmic beam was consumed by it. A small portion still made it through on the side and struck home; blowing a hole right the American Dragon's wing and doing considerable damage to his side. Yet another ear splitting scream echoed throughout the room as his sped up decent had Jake slamming into the ground before slumping lifelessly. The fact that the energy passing through the portal collided with and destroyed the clone that unleashed it did little to comfort the remaining teens even after Gohan and Namine found enough energy and subconscious activity respectively to determine that the dragon was still alive. He was so badly injured that, like Raimundo, he may soon die anyway.

"Wow, didn't see the lightshow coming." One Hades mused, eyeing Namine curiously as she rushed to Jake's side.

"I should be embarrassed, my moves being thwarted a second time by a magical amateur." Another frowned, scratching his head. "Even Dragon boy's success seems degrading."

"Oh, what does it matter?" The third Hades shrugged, closing his eyes with a very uncaring look on his face. "More clones can be made in an instant and scales is out. Let's just move on and take down this world's answer to Wonder Boy."

Caught between rage at the dark God and concern for his friend, Gohan positioned himself between the two, gathering as much energy into his hands as he could as he dropped into a defensive stance. Namine was already doing what she could for Jake and without the Senzu Beans there was nothing Gohan could do for him, so he settled for protecting them until Namine deemed Jake's condition stable enough to waste time sending him through a portal to the others. Only then would he release his aggression.

"Why thank you my dear." Maleficent sneered as Valerie paled. "Your help is most appreciated."

"Then what do you think of mine?" Ryo growled, his whole body glowing purplish blue as he pulled himself into a spin and quickly grew in speed despite the spell's intent to hold him still. "Voltage Blade!" Every bit of his glow immediately surged to his metal arm and created the longest energy blade he'd ever produced, coming right around at Maleficent's throat...only to stop an mere centimetre away from the unflinching sorceress.

"Impressive, but pointless." Maleficent said calmly, completely unphased as Ryo's breath hitched. "Now, how about I show you what happens when technology finds itself the focus of too much magic?"

Her widening eyes was the only hint they got before what looked like green and blue lightning surged all over Valerie, Kim's battle suit and Ryo's metal arm and helmet, eliciting blood curdling screams from all three, none of which ended until a small explosion came from each and sent all three teens crashing into the ground. They were all fortunate enough to fall safely over the flames and outside the pentagram, however, they were all wracked with severe burns wherever technology met their flesh.

Valerie's suit had disappeared by the time her body met the stone, revealing her charred skin, a pained whimper was all the only sign of consciousness she produced. Beside her, though her suit was still intact, hiding the bulk of her injuries, Kim was in no better condition.

Ryo was the one exception. Grunting and crying out as his body visibly throbbed, he grabbed the top of his metal arm and forced it off of him, revealing his burnt sleeve full of holes, though it seemed that the protective, durable material and his enhance durability had manage to protect him a little, for his arm only bore angry, red burns rather than black, charred skin. He then removed his helmet with shaky fingers to reveal much the same around the upper part of his face, and an inch of his hair all around his forehead burnt.

"No. Please be ok." Kairi muttered, tears pooling in her eyes. She felt absolutely helpless. Unlike Justiman, she couldn't so much as twitch, her Keyblade hanging uselessly at her side, and it was driving her crazy. She'd come to help people, that was all she wanted to do, like Sora, but all she did was become a damsel in distress. She couldn't even use her power to heal their wounds in her condition. Sobs left her mouth as gazed over the battle to find all her friends, new and old, getting horribly hurt and the fact that there was nothing she could do sank in.

Grunting, Roxas placed his hands on Dojo's curled body and forced himself to his knees, grimacing at the sight before him. Only Dojo and the ghosts had noticed with everything going on, Roxas had awoken from his sleep a while back and had listened with a growing need to help as the sounds of battle and pain grew more and more horrid. He hated how weak and pathetic he was. He hated that he couldn't do anything to heal Rai or Jake when they were brought to his side. Namine, in a need to save her own strength, had only just healed them enough so their lives weren't in immediate danger and there was no way they could help either anymore. He hated that prevent the overload induced explosions that had burned Kim, Ryo and Valerie. He even hated the fact that he couldn't save that pain in the neck Riku from the stone thorns still imbedded in his limbs, the only things holding him up. He hated being useless!

"They need help." He muttered to himself as Jafar took the darkness blasts from Riku and quadrupled their size.

"You'll pay for that, Turban Head!" Danny yelled, swooping in and firing a shockingly bright beam right for Jafar's heart at the same time Sora sprinted in on the ground.

"I highly doubt that." Jafar drawled as he waved his hands. Danny's beam broke its straight line and spiralled around the genie's form before swirling towards Sora. At the same time, the dark blasts were released. Danny's blood ran cold as they flew on a direct course for him, their speed having increased as much as their size. Not able to do so much as put a shield in time, he instinctively threw up his arms to cover his face and screamed as each and every one hit its mark, sending Danny crashing down to the ground with enough force to create a small crater. Fortunately, Sora had more distance between him and their foe and managed, albeit barely, to dive and army roll out of the ecto beam's way.

"There has to be _something_ I can do." Roxas muttered desperately as his eyes turned to the fight with Hades.

"Feel the heat!" One Hades cackled, sending two streams of fire Gohan's way.

"GGAAHHH!" Gohan's shriek made Roxas and Namine flinch and wish they'd covered their ears. The Saiyan hybrid had managed to avoid the brunt of the flames, but his tail got singe, leaving him falling to the ground in a considerable amount of pain. He only just managed to recover enough in time to stop another Hades that appeared beside him from shoving his wicked, claw-like nails into his head. Even so, Gohan's moves had grown considerably more sluggish.

Not far from him, the third Hades had taken to charging in at Namine. The blonde lashed out with her daggers only for him to go intangible before solidifying himself behind her, fire already flaring to life in his hands. It was only a quick thrust of her palm downward and a portal snapping into existence beneath her feet for her to fall through that saved her from being incinerated.

"At this rate they'll all die." Dojo actually twitched in discomfort as Roxas' hands tightened around his scales. Something Dojo found strange. It was a feat in itself for a strong, healthy man to cause his enlarged form irritation. The fact that Roxas had managed that kind of strength when he could barely stay conscious...

"Once again, your heart is within my grasp." Maleficent said silkily, Kairi crying out and struggling as hard as she could as the dark sorceress willed her in close. The desperate redhead just glared in response. Struggling was pointless, she knew, but that didn't mean that she was going to give Maleficent the satisfaction of seeing her giving up. "With Kingdom Hearts within my grasp, I don't really have need of it anymore, but I think I'll take it anyway. After all, you never know what the future holds and it's always better to have a backup plan in motion."

"Please let there be something in here!" Roxas cried, whipping out his spell book, surprising Dojo, Ben and the reawakened Rai and Jake with the stability and speed his form suddenly had again. However, before they could make any comments, they found themselves groaning and shielding their eyes as the Keystone glowed even brighter than before.

"A purging spell! That could help, but I'd need to touch them. Damn it, whatever spell I find, I'd need more power to use it."

"Just stay down Roxas. You're in no condition to help." Dojo said softly, looking down at the distressed blonde with sympathy. The poor kid felt a desperate need to help, but was helpless himself, a horrible feeling that Dojo shared. With all his strength still intact, even Dojo would only die if he went to join the fight. What made it even harder for the dual Keybearer was that, had he not been crippled by whatever was happening to him, he could have given them an edge. With two Keyblades, he was more powerful than any of the Keybearers present, maybe even more so than Mickey, and his talent with light magic would have had a seriously damaging effect to all three wielders of the dark.

"NO! There has to be something I can DO!" Roxas yelled, his eyes looking wild with desperation. However, just as he finished talking, something within him snapped. His tense body slumped and relaxed before his pupils disappeared, leaving his eyes blank, emotionless crystal blue pools.

"Roxas!" Ben cried with more than a little panic, forcing himself to his feet and grabbing the blonde by the shoulders. "Are you ok? What's happening to you?"

"Roxas isn't here anymore Ben." The whole group, the ghosts included, jumped as the unfamiliar voice hit their ears and, bar Ben and the nearby Gwen, nearly jumped right out of their skin as they found a greying haired man in a lab coat standing within Dojo's coils.

"Hey, how did you get in here?" Dojo snarled, opening his mouth just enough to reveal a threatening display of fire.

"Calm yourself Dojo, I am a friend. Ben and the Guardians know me as Professor Paradox." The scientist smile casually, completely unphased as usual before turning to Ben and Roxas.

"What did you mean by 'Roxas isn't here anymore'?" Ben snapped, not in the mood for Paradox' casual nature or riddles. "He's right here!"

"I meant mentally." Paradox responded, his voice turning serious. "Roxas has been growing considerably weaker, because, unlike Namine, his body has not completed itself and is much more closely linked to the originals that he comes from. The part of him that came from Sora has been returning to Sora with every physical connection that has been made between them. In fact, so much has already returned that the only reason Roxas has still existed up to this point was because of the Keystone of Bezel. Almost all that remains of him now is from Ventus and as such, When Roxas' desperation overwhelmed him, Ventus' unconscious mind took over."

"What will that do?" Jake groaned before hissing at the pain talking caused him. "To Roxas? Or to us."

"You'll see in, oh, about five seconds." Paradox answered cheerily, pulling out his pocket watch. He spent but a second looking at it before smiling at the battle. Confused, the others conscious turned to the fight, keeping a worried eye on Roxas.

"Explosion!" Sora exclaimed as Jafar casually created metal spikes all around him. The rotating light balls quickly appeared, destroying them all as they approached.

"Magical Ball!" Namine shouted, aiming her daggers for the middle Hades as she created and fired a purple outlined ball of light.

Kairi's glare intensified as Maleficent raised the staff to her chest. There was no way she was going down without a fight. Even if she did die in the end, she was going to cause Maleficent a considerate amount of pain in the process. Gathering all the energy she could, she waited just until Maleficent was in range.

"Holy Burst!" Screaming in shock and pain, was blown back as light released itself from Kairi's body. The spell created what looked like a model solar system, with thin rings spinning around her, each with a bowling ball sized light connected to it like a planet and a number of small, streaking lights like meteors dancing through it. Kairi smiled with joy as she not only threw off Maleficent, but also dispelled whatever magic was holding her, letting her drop freely to the ground.

"And here we go!" Paradox cheered.

True to his word, the others gathered watched in amazement as Roxas raised his hand, the appendage beginning to glow white and yellow.

"Huh?"

"What the heck?"

"What's going on?"

Sora, Kairi, Namine, Jafar and Hades all gaped as Namine and Sora's light balls, along with every wisp of light Kairi had circling around her, was all pulled right off course, heading towards the door.

"WHOA!" Gwen cried, diving to the ground as the surge of light passed by. She, like all the warriors still in the throne room fighting, had just enough time to look up before all the light converged and flew right into Roxas' raised hand and consumed his entire being.

"ARGH!" Jafar screamed, shielding his eyes. "What is that brat doing? It burns!"

"Oh man, that's a lot of light!" Hades shouted, barely noticing his two remaining clones blowing up when it touched them.

"Since when does Roxas have that kind of power?" Gohan asked, watching on incredulously through shaded eyes.

"I'm not sure that is Roxas." Namine responded worriedly, biting her lip. "His mind feels completely different and I can barely get in. I don't understand it, I could always feel him." She added, falling into a full blown panic at the disconnection.

"Worry about it later, use the distraction to get the other injured fighters out of here." Gohan ordered, as much to get her focused on something else as to help the hurt. They could worry about the connection problem later, when they had more information. Biting her lip, Namine hesitated for a split second, but nodded and took off for Kim and Valerie.

When the light finally faded, the others could only gape at the young man before them. He was basically the same, however, his muscles had become a little less bulky and more streamline, though you still got the feeling that he was even stronger than before, and all the few injuries he'd acquired were gone, along with any sign of fatigue.

The other change was his clothes, though they still held similarities to his old ones. Black pants with white patches that ballooned a little around his knees cover his legs while his torso bore a high neck black shirt under a grey vest with white angular patterns on the bottom and over that, a short sleeved jacket that was white on the right side and black on the left with a red collar. A pair of black straps cross over his chest, holding his jacket in place, and are held together by a pendant that Namine and Sora recognised as a flipped version of Organisation Thirteen's symbol. In addition, he also wore a belt of dull grey and green armour around his waist that matched the piece on his left shoulder and his street shoe designed, armoured boots. He still had his wristband as well, but it was on the opposite wrist and instead of a black outline, it possessed a white one.

"Everyone, I introduce to you, the Master of Light. Ventus." Paradox stated proudly before raising an eyebrow at his watch. "Hmm, either my watch has stopped, or he revealed himself a few seconds early."

"The Master of Light?" Gwen asked, tilting her head.

"Yes. As you saw, Ventus has the power to control light. A power that is greatly needed for one who possesses his destiny. But even he has yet to learn of his true calling and he hasn't truly awoken yet, so we'll leave that story for now. Just enjoy the show while you can." Paradox grinned as Ventus walked to and through the doorway, his blank eyes taking in everything at once. They were enough to make even Jafar, Hades and the rising Maleficent shiver at the sight, for not only were they still blank and trancelike, but there was now a very distinct light hidden behind them.

"Do you feel that?" Hades asked, all his cocky bravado gone as he stared on with nervousness and, if Gohan wasn't mistaken, fear. "Please tell me I'm imagining that power."

"This is unbelievable." Maleficent said breathlessly, flinching as she sensed his power. "He wasn't even that powerful the first time I saw him, and definitely not when we were at the waterfall. He was barely a speck of magic just a moment ago, where did he get this much power?"

_There's even more than I imagined._ Raimundo remembered the Freight Knight saying those words when he'd acquired Roxas' power. _Ventus' power must have been hidden within Roxas this whole time. The part of Roxas that was Sora must have been suppressing it. I wonder how powerful he truly is?_

"Deities of darkness. Your time here is at an end." Ventus stated, his voice calm and emotionless as he raised his right hand again. With a brilliant flash of light, he summoned just one Keyblade. However, if that wasn't shocking enough to the watching Guardians, they were astounded to discover that it was neither Oathkeeper or Oblivion that rested backwards in his hand.

The new Keyblade looked more like a sword than a key. It had slightly longer and thinner blade than Roxas' beloved blades, with teeth being much smaller, making the blade more streamline and easier to manoeuvre. It was dominantly an ivory colour of varying shades, the shaft lighter than the teeth and handle bears while the handle itself was black. The only exceptions to the colouring was the red, broken heart in between ivory angel wings spread out upward that made up the teeth and the miniature double at the end of the keychain. The handle bears, though there was no red to be seen, also bore the same design. The only other details that caught the staring spectators' attention was that the shaft started as two separate blades that united in the middle. All in all, this Keyblade appeared to have a far more deadly appearance to it than any other Keyblade even Sora had ever seen before. Way to Dawn looked much more frightening, but this Keyblade was the perfect weapon for the quick kills of an assassin.

"Ah, Lost Memory. One of the three legendary Keyblades of the light and once again in its master's hand." Paradox sighed happily, before turning to Sora, Kairi and Riku as Namine assisted them in healing the latter. "Watch closely Keybearers, for what you are about to see is the power and skill it takes to be a true Keyblade Master. A title Ventus has all but officially earned."

"This boy has power, even I will admit that." Jafar scowled, having heard every word and far from pleased. "But do not insult me by telling me he is powerful enough to defeat me alone, let alone have the power and stable form to alter the course of this battle. Even I can see that one blow is all it will take to destroy his body."

"Jafar is correct. His own power is creating considerable strain on that crumbling shell of a form." Maleficent agreed, a blue glow emerging from the crystal in her left hand while her staff glowed green in her right. "This will end quickly and earn you nothing."

Ventus however, seemed to have other ideas, for at that moment he dashed right in, the others watching in awe as he moved faster than even Gohan could run. The villains seemed unprepared for his speed too, for before Hades could do any more than blink his eyes at the sight before him, a flash of ivory and a sudden, explosive pain had already struck from his hip to his opposite shoulder, sending him back a good distance before he could even cry out. However, that was only the beginning, as Ventus, not losing the slightest bit of momentum, spun on his foot and lashed out with two clean strikes, instantly cutting the remaining clones like they weren't even there and destroying them.

"No way." Gohan gasped, an astounded smile on his face. "He just took them out like they were stick figures. Incredible."

"So you're fast. Let's see if it helps you with me!" Jafar growled, raising his hands and warping the ground to unleash tall, metal spikes. Ventus' face remained as blank as ever as he not only avoided being skewered, but, thanks to the protection of his metal shoes, actually used them as stepping stones, jumping from one to another just as fast as he'd ran before on his way to a scowling and slightly scared Jafar.

"NO! I will not be made a fool by this knock-off of a Keybearer!" He roared as red and black magic swirled around his hands. At his command, all of the spikes he'd created, along with every piece of debris on the ground and Maleficent's throne, shot up like rockets, all of them aiming for Ventus.

But just as they reached his destination, Ventus disappeared like the blink of an eye, leaving the flying objects to crash into each other.

"Wha-ARGH!" Jafar didn't even have time to respond, for not even a second later a blade slashed right up his spine, causing his body to jerk violently forward as he screamed.

"Meteor Shower!" Jafar had barely even registered his back pain before Ventus cast his spell, raising his free hand out flat before him. Just as Ventus' chant suggested, small meteor streak shaped light blasts were released from his hand, dozens of them disconnecting from his skin every third of a second and moving with untraceable speeds, all of which struck home on Jafar's back and head. An agonised scream left his lips as the blasts propelled him across the room.

"Whoa! No one's ever taken Jafar out so effortlessly." Sora cried, a large, highly impressed smile growing on his face.

"You've grown much stronger since the day we met, though your body has yet to change at all." Maleficent commented as Ventus turned the blue pools that were his eyes on her. "But I assure you, you have yet to reach my level." She exclaimed, thrusting her staff and crystal forward and letting loose twenty coiling streams of blue, black and green, all of them zooming for every inch of Ventus.

Still not showing the slightest bit of emotion, Ventus ran right at them, Lost Memory held ready at his side. As the magic reach him, Ventus became a flurry of motion and astounded everyone watching as he weaved around and deflected every stream as if they was nothing more than balls of yarn. Spinning out the way of one, he finished off with a horizontal swing of Lost Memory as he turned back to Maleficent, deflecting the last stream right back at her.

"AAHH!" Panicking, Maleficent levitated herself into the air on instinct to avoid the shot before retaliating, her frustration beginning to show. "Keybearer, feel the power the pentagram gives me! Forces of Evil, bring forth-"

However, Ventus wasn't interested in experiencing her power and with speed that her eyes could barely follow; he jumped above and right into the centre and slammed Lost Memory into the ground.

"Clear Light!" The affects, much to Maleficent's dismay, were instantaneous as light exploded from the blade and expanded in a large circle until it had consumed the fiery star and burst upward like a pillar, blinding everyone. When it faded away, and the white spots disappeared from their vision, it was as if the pentagram had never existed.

"How DARE YOU!" Maleficent screeched, her face turning red with rage. Forgoing spells, she slammed her staff and the blue crystal together and, with a roar similar to a dragon's, she fired an immense blue, green and black beam right at Ventus.

"MOVE!" Gwen screamed, the amazement that had covered her face alongside the others' before now replaced with horror and panic. Emotions that only intensified as Ventus ignored her, not moving an inch as he watched the beam descend on him. "What are you waiting for, that kind of magical power could destroy anything!"

Yet Ventus still didn't even twitch. Then, at the last second, just as Gwen and the others were about to turn away from what they thought would be a horrific death, Ventus raised his Keyblade horizontally above his head.

"Reflect!" With that one word, light flashed out from his hand and blade and weaved itself into a barrier made of hexagons. The opposing beam touched it for a split second, though it felt like an eternity for Gwen, Gohan and the others as they watch on with baited breath, before bouncing off and zipping right back to, and consumed, its very surprised source. Maleficent's screams echoed throughout the area as the beam carried her to and through the stone wall and right out of sight.

Letting his barrier down, Ventus took two steps and jumped into the air for no apparent reason to those watching, though it became clear a moment later when he snared something very small from the air and tossed it towards Gwen. Confused, the redheaded Tennyson caught it on reflex, but smile as a familiar, soothing sensation filled her being the second it made contact with her skin. Opening her hand, a cry of joy left her lips as she smiled brightly at the blue crystal created to hold her magic.

"You got it back." She cheered, pulling close to her chest as she gave Ventus an appreciative smile. She would have done more, but they were in the middle of the most important battle she'd ever been a part of. Gratitude that couldn't be defined by words could wait till later.

She couldn't say anything else anyway, for a moment later, a huge explosion went off where Hades had landed, with streaks of fire heading out in all directions.

"Vortress Nebulae!" Gwen shouted, jumping in front of her friends as she focused all her willpower onto the crystal. A deep seated relief filled her entire being as she felt the familiar flow of magic responding to her call and create a blue force field, protecting her gathered friends from the flames. Ventus on the other hand almost casually cut through every flame that came his way before altering his blade so it was held upright in preparation for what was to come.

"Now you've burned me up!" Hades' shouted menacingly, his flames now red as the angry look on his face. Glaring intensely at the current bane of his existence, he moved his hands up to his chest and created a large, bright ball of fire and ectoplasmic energy and threw it right at Ventus as hard as he could before teleporting.

Ventus flipped over the ball to find Hades right in front of him, lashing out with a fist coated in fire, and flickered out of existence and behind the dark God before thrusting the point of his blade at the back of Hades' head only for Hades to turn and intangible and let the blade pass right through him. Keeping up the intangible form, Hades whipped around and fired an ecto beam, forcing Ventus to jump back and sidestep it before a total of six Hades clones to appear around him, two grabbing his arms and the other four joining the original in gathering either ectoplasmic energy or unusually hot flames in their hands.

"I'll enjoy having you as my servant once you're dead." Hades snarled, the flames in his hands growing more and more intense. "It'll be fun watching you do the most horrible and degrading jobs I can think of. Nobody hurts me!"

"Light give me power!" As emotionless as ever, Ventus wasted no time in remarks and cast another spell. In an instant like appeared out of nowhere and gathered around Ventus like a rushing geyser reaching just a little higher than his head, destroying the clones holding him before they could even blink. It didn't stop there though, for the moment his arms were free he raised his Keyblade and created a focal point to which all the light around him gathered before exploding outward, destroying all the other clones and blowing Hades back with an enraged and pained roar.

"Would someone get me a pair of sunglasses real quick?" Danny asked, almost whimpering as the light blinded him. As his eyes were tightly closed and covered, he failed to notice as Ventus appeared next to him until the Keybearer grabbed his arm. "Wha-WHOA!" Danny had a split second to see wild blond hair through white spots before he felt a sudden jerk and found himself on the other side of the room. Right next to a slowly rising Hades.

"YAAH! Roxas, I mean Ventus, I mean whatever, what are you..." Danny spluttered, whipping his head back and forth from the stoic Keybearer and the startled dark God. Ventus didn't answer. He merely grabbed Hades arm and thrust his and Danny's hands together, eliciting a wide eyed scream from the ghost boy.

"Redire in potestatem!" Ventus' voice rang clear over Danny's cries, heralding a light bursting to life where Danny and Hades' hand met.

"What are you doing?" Hades screamed as the energy intensified. However, his question was answered almost an instant later as the eerie green glow of Danny's power appeared around his body only to be drawn to the clasped hands. Not that the visual was required, he could feel as the energy was drained from his being through his hand and into Danny's. "NO! MY POWER!"

"No, my power." Danny grinned as he felt the energy returning to him and all traces of ectoplasm disappeared from the Lord of the Dead. No one noticed, but as the spell quickly reached its end, his eyes flashed grey before turning a bright green not a second later. His grin turning into a smirk, he pulled back and fired a beam right into Hades' gut as he screamed 'NO' again, blowing him away.

"DIE VENTUS!" Jafar's malicious roar reverberated around the room as his glowing red form shot towards the teen duo, a particularly intense reddish orange energy blast gathering at the head of his staff.

"Oh no, I want some payback." Danny glared, flying in to intercept the genie. Before Jafar could respond, Danny created three clones and all four versions took a deep breath before releasing their ghostly wails.

Gaping and wide eyed, Jafar pulled himself to an immediate halt and thrust his staff forward just as the first ecto-charged waves reached him. The reddish orange energy grew and shined like a star as Jafar grunted and groaned, staring on with amazement. He was far stronger than even four Dannys, yet he was having difficulty just holding this power back! It was inconceivable!

Ventus however, ignored it completely, his blank blue eyes pointed solely at Hades.

The dark God wasn't paying attention either, opting to glare, albeit fearfully, at the blond before him. His strength and stamina was fading fast, a feat in itself. As a God, he was almost never tired out. Only facing Zeus or Poseidon had ever managed it. However, he was far from home world and more importantly, Tartarus, the place where he was most powerful. But even so, he had been incredibly strong, only to lose more than half of his strength to one Keybearer in a very short amount of time! And now, all the new abilities he'd acquired were gone with a strangely decent amount of power along with them. To top it off, Ventus wasn't even breaking a sweat, though the rune bearing stone on his wrist only seemed to get brighter as time went on.

"You are quite the pain." He growled between deep breaths as he slowly pulled himself to his feet. Reaching his full height, he gasped and almost toppled over again as a sharp pain coursed through his gut. Danny's blast had clearly done more damage than he'd thought. "So I think...we should.." He gasped and whimpered, falling into a slouch as one hand grabbed his gut while the other was flimsily held into the air, fire gathering around his fingers.

Unfortunately for him, Ventus wasn't interested in clashing again. Tensing his stance, he gathered an enormous, highly condensed amount energy into his Keyblade as he swung it around him, preparing for one of his most dangerous spells.

"Pulse Bomb!" Swinging Lost Memory out from behind him, Ventus released a beach ball sized blue and white sphere. The spell flew at a suddenly gaping Hades with the speed of a cannonball and struck home long before the dark God could even think of avoiding it.

"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" Upon impact, the light ball exploded outward until it consumed Hades and stayed that way for a few moments, dealing excruciating pain as the light ripped at every shred of his being, before exploding properly with a huge blast, the resulting shockwave destroying Danny's clones and pushing him and Jafar away from each other. Ventus just stood unflinching as it past him, seeming to absorb the light that touched him, and just watched as the smoke disappeared, revealing a very deep, perfectly round crater that almost broke through the bottom of the thick floor. And at the centre, his robe torn to shreds and his body covered in gashes and bruises, was Hades.

"What...a blast." Hades choked, spitting up blood. He was finished. Every inch of his body was screaming at him, to the point of being completely immobilised. All he could do was stare up with one eye as Ventus walked up to the edge of the crater, his blade pointed down at his face. "It looks l-like...you win t-this one." He stuttered, breaking off as his particularly sharper burst of pain struck his system. "But y-you will se...see me again, I promise." With that and a final glare, Hades disappeared in a flash of smoke and fire, just as a streak of light narrowly missed, and never returned.

"Hades is gone." Gohan muttered softly, looking thoroughly dumbstruck. "His energy's completely disappeared. He left. Ventus made him leave! How did he do it?"

"Light is darkness' greatest weakness and all three of your enemies are practically made of darkness." Paradox answered. "Ventus is practically made of light and is even more powerful than Gwen. Meanwhile, Hades draws his power from his realm and the spirits within it, so, separated from it, he has no hope of standing up to someone like Ventus."

The others just continued to gaze in amazement as Paradox explained. That is except for Ben. He on the other hand, grew very worried, not by what Paradox said, but the tone he used. Normally he was overly chipper, despite almost any situation. However, this time his voice was neutral and his face had taken on a much more serious appearance.

"And the Keystone is magnifying his advantage. These goons don't stand a chance." Gwen commented happily

"Actually, the Keystone isn't amplifying any of his strikes." Paradox shook his head. "All its power is going to amplifying his body's stability tenfold. Without it, he'll cease to exist"

"That's it!" Ben cried. His blood turned cold as he realised what that meant. "Ventus won't survive this battle!"

"WHAT?" That did it. Paradox just watched the blond saviour with sad eyes as everyone around him simultaneously screamed, all of their faces turning ghostly white.

And there was nothing they could do about it, for it had already begun. Though Danny was still dizzy after the shockwave, Jafar had already poofed in close to Ventus and transformed into a cobra the size of a house. Rearing his head back, he struck down with speed greater than that of a cheetah, which Ventus only just managed to dodge thanks to moving before the thrust began. Unperturbed, Jafar immediately followed it up with a lashing of his tail to which Ventus latched onto and swung off...right into a group of glowing green arrows made of stone. Though he made no more of a reaction than jerking under the force of the blows, the teens below gasped and screamed at the top of their lungs. Maleficent laughed victoriously, along with Jafar as Ventus' arrow ridden body crashed lifeless into the ground, blood pooling around the stone. And finally, Paradox just watched on with the most bitter look he'd worn in thousands of years.

"This is not happening." Sora muttered desperately, tears pooling in his eyes. He'd only just learnt of Roxas' existence. His Nobody, his brother, his son as it had been so jokingly put. He'd only just found him, but he cared for him a great deal already. He'd found him, only to watch him die a horrible death? "It can't be happening. It can't!"

"ROXAS!" Namine screamed, throwing herself to her feet and running as fast as she could to help him only for Paradox to hold her back. "NO, LET ME GO! I HAVE TO SAVE HIM! I HAVE TO, ROXAS!" It had taken less than a second for her to fall into hysterics, tugging viciously at Paradox' arms. Namine couldn't handle it. Roxas was like her twin, he was always there for her, always protecting her, soothing her, making her feel loved and happy. He'd risked his life for months trying to make her existence with the Organisation bearable and did everything within his power to give her her freedom. If ever she needed proof that she had a heart, she could use this moment now, for it was breaking. Kairi gently pulled her into a hug as her body was wracked with sobs and rivers of tears. Despite not knowing him well at all, Kairi was crying herself, unable to look.

"We've never lost any-anyone before. Why now?" Ben sobbed, clenching his stinging eyes tightly shut as Gwen threw herself into his arms and cried into his shoulder.

"I can't believe this is happening." Rai bit his lip as he too cried freely. Besides Namine, Ben and Rai were easily the closest to Roxas. Watching someone they cared about so much get killed so horribly was a pain that was tearing them apart. They couldn't bear to imagine how horrible Namine must have felt, they'd never imagined such pain as there's existed and hers was much worse for sure.

Jake, Kim and Danny gaped and cried silently from their places while Ryo focused a hurt glare at Maleficent, biting his lip hard as he struggled to hold back his own tears. None of them were nearly as close to Roxas, not spending as much time with him or bonding as deeply, but he was still their friend and team mate, someone who helped and cared for them and received it from them in return. Kim in particular, was kicking herself for not putting in the same effort to get to know him and it pained them all greatly that they'd never get the chance again.

"Sora, only you can save him now." Paradox said softly, but firmly, startling the brunette Keybearer as he grabbed his shoulder and pushed him forward. A second later, he found himself standing over Ventus, watching in horrified wonder as he began to glow sky blue.

"No, the Keybearer shall not be saved!" Maleficent snarled, throwing a beam down at the pair. However, Paradox merely grabbed the other two again and disappeared before it could hit, reappearing a good twenty feet behind the wailing Dojo as the beam struck the ground.

"How can I save him? Namine's the healing prodigy." Sora responded as he got his bearings, staring down at the fading blond with a look similar to a kicked puppy's.

"The body was already unstable and falling apart. Too much of the half of Roxas that came from you has returned to you. Namine can't save it. Roxas is no more I'm afraid. However, you can save Ventus. His heart and soul was existing inside of your heart for a decade before it was forced out by your heart's separation from your body. If you touch him and concentrate before it is too late, his heart and soul will follow what remains of you in him and return there once again until he is ready to reunite with his own body. It's the only way we can save any of him."

"I can save his heart and soul. That's better than nothing." Sora muttered with a nod. Furrowing his brow in concentration, he took off his gloves and firmly grabbed Ventus' arms just before his entire body dissolved into light.

The reaction was instantaneous as every speck of light shot into Sora's hands. His body tense and his breathing hitched as it ran up his arms and consumed his entire body, leaving nothing but the Keystone behind. The power was stronger than Sora imagined and it only got more intense. His limbs were only given a moment to relax as the energy receded from them before he fell to the ground with a strangled gasp as the energy congregated in his chest and putting a fair bit of strain on his heart. It left him baffled and panicked, emotions that only increased when Kairi noticed his predicament and let out a scared scream. But before she or anyone else could respond to what was going on, the energy exploded outward again, bringing a shrill cry from Sora. Whipping around as best as their individual conditions would allow, the young heroes were wondered and worried sick as sky blue and white light exploded from his being, creating a dome.

It was at that moment that the pain and restraint of his breathing disappeared and was replaced with a much more gentle flux around his body, developing a very familiar feeling to Sora as his body relaxed. So much so that he couldn't help but cry a very specific line.

"Give me strength!"

At that command, the power surged again, making his whole form glowed white, hiding all but his outline within the dome before it exploded a second later. As it died, the young warriors were amazed to find Sora not only looking completely fine, to the point of all injuries being fully healed, but bearing an air of immense power. His clothes had turned white with black markings all over them and every few moments his form emitted a flash of white lightning that danced around his being. His feet weren't even touching the ground, his form levitating six inches above the floor. And finally, the Ultima Blade floated near his right hand, just as Roxas' famous Oathkeeper floated by his left.

Rolling his shoulders, he took a deep breath before floating back to and in front of the group, his eyes sparkling as he focused a furious glare at the scowling Maleficent and hissing Jafar.

"They'll pay for this." Ben shivered as Gwen rose to her full height. He'd never heard nearly as much malice in her voice before. He was someone she intended to protect and even he was terrified as he watched her raised the crystal. "Reverto Meus Ops Mihi!"

With a loud snap, the crystal broke apart and released all of its power, returning it to Gwen. Her whole form glowed as every cell of her being regained that which was stolen from her. As it died down, her eyes and hands glowed brightly before a ribbon of magic twirled around her form from her feet up, changing her beach wear into her battle outfit. To finish it off, Gwen pointed behind the team and summoned the Keystone, letting it fly onto her wrist before turning her still glowing, hate filled eyes at her now slightly nervous opponents, blue lighting and the Keystone's yellow glow joining the magic around her hands.

"You killed him." Gohan said emotionlessly, standing stock still. This whole time, Gohan had been like a statue, stuck still by shock and grief. Images of Roxas from the day they met to the moment he was shot dead were flying through his mind. The hesitant, nervous smile and air of hope and fear he'd worn when he introduced himself. The sacrifices he made for the team and the world that treated him so badly. The relaxed air, smiles and laughs he'd shared with Gohan and the others when they were on monitor duty or when Roxas hung out in the forest around Gohan's house.

"Roxas. My friend." He muttered as his tears finally poured down his face as another memory, a very recent one, popped into his head.

"_So, where did Namine run off to today?" Gohan asked, trying to sound as casual as possible and hold back the heat growing in his face. He'd finally convinced his mother to back off with all the studying for a while and was having a lazy day. He'd called the satellite and invited the blond duo to join him, but Namine had already left on one of her little adventures and had forgotten to take her communicator, so Roxas had come down alone. Initially he'd been a little disappointed, but he'd made the best of it. It was still a lot of fun with just the two of them, chasing each other through the forest, playing a superpowered version of tennis using Oathkeeper and an energy blade to deflect an energy ball over a makeshift net and convincing the ever shy Roxas to strip off to his boxers and go swimming. At the moment, they were just laying down on the shoreline of the lake, letting the sun dry them off as they relaxed._

"_She mentioned trying to find a snow leopard in its natural habitat." Roxas responded, grinning slyly as he opened one eye to look at his companion. "Why do you ask? Were you oping to kiss her under that mistletoe we found? It's a little early for a Christmas tradition, but I guess you could have given it a shot."_

"_W-wh-what? What makes you...I wouldn't..."Gohan's face turned as red as a tomato as he jolted up into a sitting position, spluttering like crazy. His eyes were wide and border lining blind panic as he whipped his head to face Roxas so fast that he gave himself whiplash. He was absolutely terrified of the blond beside him discovering his feelings for Namine. Roxas was basically Namine's brother and he had very dangerous powers that Gohan's body couldn't tolerate nearly as well as a punch. Add that to the protectiveness he had for Namine and his occasional temper, Gohan was seriously tempted to fly far, __**far**__ away._

"_Settle down Gohan, I'm just teasing." Roxas smiled, closing his eye again and bringing a huge, silent sigh of relief from the Saiyan hybrid. "You wouldn't try kissing her. Though I wouldn't put it passed you to be the corny, classic romantic type and make a bouquet out of those wild flowers for her." He added with a smirk, opening his amused eyes just in time to watch and laugh as the blush on Gohan's face became even more pronounced by his skin turning white._

"_I...um...no I-"_

"_Seriously, settle down Gohan." Roxas cut in, taking pity on the frazzled boy and offering him a reassuring smile. "We ALL know about your crush on Namine. Well, except the oblivious Namine herself." He added with a chuckle. Seeing that Oblivion wasn't whipping out and castrating him yet, Gohan sucked in and slowly released a deep breath to help calm himself down, though he remained ready to move in a hurry if he had to. However, all actions were wiped from his mind as what Roxas said hit home._

"_Seriously? You all know?" He cried, his blushing harder, though Roxas wasn't sure how it was possible. If any more blood red to the poor boy's face, there'd be none left for the rest of his body. "And you...don't wanna kill me?"He added with a gulp._

"_Of course not. If she likes you back then I'm all for it and I know she does." Roxas replied. "If a stranger tries to seduce her I'll give them the big brother talk and I'd be a little on guard if the player duo Jake and Raimundo started flirting with her, but I trust you to treat her right. There's no one I'd prefer her to be with."_

"_Thank you Roxas." Gohan said softly, touched by the sentiment. Roxas had not only given him the ok to pursue Namine, but in doing so he admitted just how much faith he had in the young Saiyan. For him to drop his guard about Namine said a __**lot**__ about the trust and respect he had for him._

"_So she likes me back?" He asked hopefully, smiling brightly as Roxas nodded. "Great! Would you help me with figuring out how to tell her that I like her?"_

"_No way! I can't do all the work for you. I've done enough." Roxas laughed as Gohan pouted. "Just be yourself Gohan and use some of that Saiyan courage to suck it up. I know she'll smile and agree to go out with you however you decide to tell her. Now, what do you say we catch some fish and get cooking. I'm getting a little hungry."_

"_Sounds great." Gohan grinned cheekily. "What are we waiting for, let's go catch that fish." With that, he grabbed a startled Roxas by the arm and tossed him back into the lake with a nice splash._

"_Oh, I am SO gonna get you for that!" Roxas shouted with mock anger as he released a burst of light magic into the water. An instant later, it had travelled all the way to the shore and created a giant splash of its own, soaking the freshly dry Gohan. Coughing up water, the Saiyan flew right at the blond and the two spent the next half an hour laughing themselves hoarse through a water war._

"Roxas!" One last sob left Gohan's mouth. Then, something snapped wide open within him, letting loose a primal rage. A rage pointed squarely at the two remaining villains. "How dare you." He seethed, his face filled with so much bloodlust and fury that even Maleficent couldn't help but back step nervously away. "HOW DARE YOU!"

"AAHHH!" The rest of the young heroes were all struck with stronger winds than any of them could handle and almost blown away as Gohan's animalistic scream brought his aura exploding to life, forcing Dojo to shield them with his body and Danny to press against a far wall. However, it wasn't his usual white aura. It was the one only seen once before, when Gohan had learned of his father's demise. This one was bigger, more intense and a shining gold. However, unlike last time, it show not even the slightest possible sign of receding. In fact, it only grew stronger by the second.

And it wasn't alone in that fact. All of his muscles grew as well, becoming more well defined than before as his skin grew paler. His hair flew up and became an even bigger spiky mess than before, the tips of each strand turning blond while his eye lightened from black to a dark green and continued to lighten.

"YYYAAAAAHHHHHH!" With a final roar, the speed and intensity of his aura, and the wind it was creating, magnified dramatically, leaving Maleficent and Jafar both teleporting themselves to the ceiling on the opposite side of the room, the furthest that they could get on the battlefield and scaring the young heroes as even Dojo's heavy form was forced back. The raw outburst of power lasted for almost half a minute before the winds calmed and the bright, golden aura drew back into itself until it merely surrounded its owner. An owner who's appearance shocked and amazed all of those healthy enough to get up and look at him.

Gohan's hair was now completely blond, the extremely messy mop flapping around his head in the wind around him, and his eyes were turquoise. However, it was the air of power and animosity the projected off of him in waves that truly caught everyone's attention. For even without Gohan's ability to sense energy, they could all tell that whatever happened to him had increased his power far beyond what any of them had ever thought possible.

"And they have arrived." Paradox stated calmly, watching on as Sora and Gwen, the only two not blown back by the explosion of raw power Gohan had unleashed, stepped up on either side of him, all three glaring with various levels of viciousness at the suddenly very uncertain villains. "Lucky Girl, with her powers magnified tenfold. Sora, tapping into the power of Ventus and unleashing his Final Form. And Gohan. Now the most powerful hero ever to set foot on the Earth. The legendary Super Saiyan."

"Each one of them has more power than any of us ever thought possible." Ben commented, his previous exhaustion forgotten as he stared at the powerful trio.

"After what I saw against Garlic Junior..." Ryo grunted painfully, looking unsure whether to be happy or scared at the sight of Gohan. "I think it's safe to say that we've won."

"Oh, this fight is ours alright." Gwen snarled, the magic around her hands pulsing.

"It's time to end this." Sora glared, his Keyblades spinning on either side of him.

"I see you lot haven't learnt your lesson yet." Jafar retorted, though it was far less confident than his previous taunts.

Gohan's only response was to let loose a growl much like his Oozaru form's. Enjoying the tormented looks that crossed the dark forces' faces, he just let two words pass his lips, with a tone that promised a painful death and removed all traces of bravado from his adversaries.

"You're history!"


	15. Final Battle: Light's Brilliance

**Final Battle: Light's Brilliance**

Jafar had no warning. One second he was shaking at the raw power coming off the three gathered warriors in waves and the next a fist had crashed up into his chin with so much strength that even his magic combined with the tolerance Gohan's blood had given him couldn't stop the bone from cracking. A flash of gold light was all he could see as his body flew skyward, the thunderous smack of the fist making contact being so great that it blocked out his scream and blended closely with the boom of the stone ceiling giving way.

"Save some fun for me." Sora called, levitating right into the action. Throwing out his hands, both Keyblades soared like chakrams with enough spinning speed to feel the resulting wind a good four feet away and slammed hard into Jafar's chest and thigh just as his body loosened from the stone. The only response Jafar was capable of as his body was forced back into the stone was a gurgled cry.

"Forces of darkness, answer my- ARGH!" Maleficent's spell was cut short as a blue energy disk ploughed into her shoulder with the force of a wrecking ball, sending her down and skidding along the ground. Pulling herself up with the help of her staff, she turned a vicious, pained snarl towards its source as Gwen floated before her.

"Your fight is with me, not them." Gwen growled, the energy and lightning around her hands gaining a yellow outline as she spoke, a sign of the Keystone's power awakening. "And trust me, I'm not losing to a wicked witch of the west reject again."

"I see I need to teach you some respect!" Maleficent glared heatedly, her voice filled with venom as her staff started to glow. "Forces of evil, strike-"

"Tempestus!" Once again Gwen cut the dark witch off. Thrusting her hands out she unleashed a huge torrent of water that blew Maleficent away, her staff flying off to Gwen's right. The rushing stream continued on, never losing any momentum, until Maleficent crashed into a pillar, spluttering whenever the water created a big enough break to free her face, but unable to move so much as her fingers against the pressure.

"Are all your spells long winded and overly flashy?" Gwen sneered as she directed the water to swirl around the pillar. Maleficent's head was left free for breathing purposes, but the spinning current made moving her limbs impossible. "And while I'm asking questions, can you do anything without your precious staff?"

"How's this for an answer?" Maleficent grunted. Her eyes flashed dark green and a second later Gwen found the very water holding maleficent shot back towards her in the form of piranhas. Not that it phased her at all though, for with a few choice words muttered under her breath, every drop of water evaporated a good five feet away from her. As the resulting steam dispersed, Gwen spared only a moment to frown at the sight of Maleficent's staff back in her hand before the two were off again, trading spells and blasts of raw magic.

"STAND STILL!" Jafar roared, sending blade after blade made of red magic at the boys with constant slashing movements. However, Gohan and Sora were in near perfect synch, moving flawlessly around each other as they dropped, rose or flew around the attacks, coming close together near Jafar as they avoided the last one.

His face even redder than his clothes with rage, Jafar created a large ball of lava and tossed it right at them.

Grunting at the intense heat, more than he could bare, Gohan dropped straight down fast, leaning back as the molten rock passed by, singeing the tips of his messy, spiky hair. The sight of Gohan's decent sent a déjà vu feeling through Sora. He'd intended to follow the Super Saiyan's example, but the feeling seemed to be demanding he do the opposite. He frowned at it, but whatever it was it seemed to be keeping him blending well with Gohan throughout their moves so he chose to go with it and shot up as high and fast as he could, flinching as the close proximity to the lava set his shoe tip on fire before removing the flames telekinetically.

All in all, the lava ball passed them without issue and was quickly cooled off into solid rock by Danny with an ice beam before he blew it apart from where he stood protecting the others. He could still fight, but he chose to stand guard instead, feeling that the battle had moved out of his league. It appeared that it was the right decision.

Rejoining on the way to Jafar again, the pair fell victim to instinct again. Placing his hands together before him, Gohan created a step and waited just until Sora's foot was planted firmly on it before springing him up as fast as he could. Using the astounding speed and Jafar's shocked still form to his advantage, Sora brought both Keyblades up before him and spun, releasing what looked like black and white lightning all around him, creating what looked like a drill and ploughed right into and through Jafar.

"BAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Even the unconscious had to flinch as Jafar's screams struck their ears, even as he was blown through the ceiling and far out into the dark sky.

"Do you think that this will change anything for you?" Maleficent cried as she lashed out with a horizontally arch blast, her voice growing a little more desperate. Gwen just threw up a blue and yellow wall in response, effortlessly blocking the blast. "Even if by some miracle you win this fight, the Heartless will ultimately destroy you and what remains of this world."

"Unlike you, I'm not fighting for me." Gwen snapped, sending a stream of blue and yellow magic from each of her ten fingers at Maleficent. "Even if this world doesn't survive, without you the others will."

Crossing her arms, Maleficent glowed a sickly green before unleashing her power into a pillar around her, deflecting the blue streams off to the sides.

"Still with the over dramatic displays?" Gwen smirked as she raised her arms again. "Terra Tremo Eradicko!"

"AAHHH!" Maleficent was frown off guard and off her feet as the ground exploded beneath her, but quickly responded with a wave of her staff. As a result the sharp debris that was flying her way switched direction in an instant and struck a very put off Gwen.

The young sorceress screamed, her eyes clenched shut as stone slashed right through the skin and muscle of her limbs and her right side, elicited a cackle from Maleficent as she dropped to her knees.

"At least my spells don't backfire." She said triumphantly as the pillar of power she'd created shrank and concentrated itself into her staff. "And now my dear, be gone!"

"Merchcus Veridactus!" Gwen cried as fast as she could. At the same moment both sorceresses released their beams, one green and black, the other blue decorated by what looked like yellow lightning. The beams collided as Gwen levitated into the air, bringing them into the same stalemate they'd created in their last battle.

"Heh, even with that magic stone of yours that is all the power you're capable of?" Maleficent's smirk grew wider as Gwen's face scrunched up with desperate determination. "Pitiful! I however, mostly used your magic while I still had it, not my own. I'm almost at full strength and we both know how this very situation ended last time."

"Yes. We do." Maleficent stiffened as Gwen's face morphed into a cocky smirk, her eyes open and ferocious. It took only a moment for Maleficent to turn horrified at the realisation of Gwen's act. She was holding back. "Tempestus Impaetus!" And once again lightning flashed. However, this time it was the one in black that fell victim.

"AARRRGGGHHH!" Maleficent's shrieks hurt Gwen's ears as the dark witch crashed back into the hard stone floor, writhing and twitching as electrical currents continued to dance over her flesh, unphased by the raw power that crashed into her moments after the electricity.

"I believe the phrase I'm looking for is payback's a bitch." Gwen grinned deviously as a gold flash flew above her head. She looked up just in time to see Gohan cut cleanly through a pillar until five equal chunks were freed and tossed them around the still out of it Maleficent.

Confused, Gwen couldn't help taking a few seconds to study them. If the Super Saiyan was aiming for Maleficent then his aim was really becoming rusty. They'd all landed equal distance from the black clad woman, forming what looked like a circle or...

_A pentagram!_ Her eyes widened with shock before lighting up at the sight. She'd almost forgotten that she'd told Gohan to make one for her. Now was her chance to end it.

Not wasting a second, a string of Latin left her lips, blue and yellow magic pulsing with each syllable until it solidified into a white crystal the size of her palm. She paused as it was completed just long enough to inspect her work and nodded in approval before turning back to Maleficent just as her groaning form started rising to her feet.

"A dirty t-trick." Maleficent stuttered, glaring hatefully. Though that was the only thing that made her look dangerous now. She was hunched over, leaning heavily on her staff. Her ragged body looked more like a defenceless old lady's, not a dangerous, evil sorceress'. "It appears that there is more darkness in you than I thought."

"Most of us rely on the balance of light and darkness to survive and I'm not one of the few exceptions." Gwen responded coolly as her eyes and hands started glowing again, the crystal floating before her chest. "And at this moment I'm grateful for that. Because I need the darkness in me to do this." With that she released a stream of energy from each finger once again, Maleficent responding with a green and black dome around her. However, she wasn't Gwen's target. Five streams struck each of the pillar pieces and coated them until they glowed brightly while the other five spread out and created a circle touching each pillar. Maleficent watched on in confusion, but quickly switched to horror as the pillars each let out thin streams of energy of their own, connecting them to each other and making a very distinguished pentagram within the circle. One that she had no control over and was standing in the middle of.

"And now this ends." Gwen said coldly as the crystal flew off and hovered right above Maleficent.

"What are you doing?" Nothing could hide the fear both on Maleficent's face or her voice as she turned back to face Gwen. "Stop it at once!"

"After all you've done? Never." Gwen snapped as she raised her glowing hands.

"Outside of time

Outside of gain

Know only sorrow

Know only pain!"

"NNNOOOOOO!" Maleficent's scream would have impressed a banshee as the magic circle Gwen created responded to her chanting. By the time Gwen was finished the magic within the circle was surging up into the crystal, making it glow blue, grey, green and black as it absorbed it all. The circle's magic and everything within it, including Maleficent.

Her nails drenched in blood as she clawed at the ground, desperate to remain free, Maleficent's form quickly began fading into a blackish green mist that disappeared into the crystal. It wasn't until only her arms and above her shoulders remained solid that she finally gave in. However, she did still take the time to give Gwen one last venomous glare.

"You will pay for this!" She shouted, her voice holding such a strong air of finality that Gwen was sure that it was true. "I will return and when I do I will destroy you all!" With that the last of her being turned into mist and was sucked into the crystal with the last of the circle's magic.

"Perhaps you will one day be free." Gwen muttered lowly, summoning the crystal, now full of swirling, multicoloured mist, back to her hand. "But it will not be any time soon. And I promise that I will be ready." Chanting under her breath again, she created a round portal and tossed the crystal through it before it closed a second later. Now not even she knew where to find Maleficent and only a skilled spell caster could free her even if someone did. And with that, the threat of Maleficent was no more.

"Is it over?" Danny asked, gazing from one side of the room to the other. "Man, you guys have grown strong! You took them down in next to no time."

"Too bad it's too late." Sora sighed, staring around at the world's natives forlornly. "We failed to save Roxas, Mickey, Goofy and your world."

"Yeah, but at least the other worlds will be safe." Gohan said dejectedly, his rage turning to grief as his hair and eyes returned to black, his muscles shrinking.

"True, without Maleficent and the others to taint it, Kingdom Hearts should destroy all the Heartless to touch its light when they find it." Kairi muttered, wrapping her arms around Namine as her distraught Nobody's form was wracked with another wave of sobs.

"No, it is not yet over." Paradox exclaimed. The group tensed instantly as they turned to him, fear and disbelief covering their features.

"What do you mean?" Ben asked, barely constrained panic apparent in every inch of his being. "Maleficent's trapped in a crystal that's who knows where, Hades flew the coop and-"

"I'm a genie that can restore his body in an instant." None of them, not even Gohan or Gwen were prepared as Jafar's cold, merciless voice met their ears and failed to move at all as he appeared in a puff of red smoke behind Danny.

The ghost boy in question gasped and jumped as far as he could from the last villain intending to fly away, however, before he could even get a foot away huge bolt of red lightning encased his entire body.

"DANNY!" The room echoed with the multiple, simultaneous cries of his friends, but Danny didn't make a sound. That is, until the lightning ended and a electrically burned Danny crashed into the ground with no signs of life beyond an occasional choked gasp.

"You BASTARD!" Gohan roared, his eyes full of rage and bloodlust comparable to Vegeta's as he transformed once again, this time in an instant. His aura shining so brightly around him that it hurt almost everyone's eyes, he shot right at Jafar and threw a vicious right hook only for Jafar to disappear in another puff of smoke, appearing again thirty feet away.

"COWARD! HOLD STILL AND FIGHT!" Gohan roared maliciously, scaring his friends as he shot after him.

"Trust me, I intend to. But this time you will face my try power!" Jafar growled venomously. With that, red light exploded from his body with so much force that it shook the entire fortress, knocking everyone this standing off their feet, excluding Paradox and Gwen and Sora as they levitated. Red mist quickly followed it, filling the room as Jafar released a primal roar, his voice growing deeper and echoing far more than ever before. The raw power, both that being unleashed and that of his voice, caused even the blood thirsty Saiyan to stop in his tracks.

"We are SCREWED!" Sora shouted, sucking in a shaky breath as he as he bit his lip, staring with sharp, but terrified eyes as the smoke receded, revealing a pair of red arms as thick as a bus. "I hoped we'd stop him before this."

"Why, what's happening?" Gwen asked, dreading the answer.

"Jafar just transformed into his true form. His powers just magnified more than you could believe." Sora answered, gulping loudly as his Keyblades floated protectively before him.

"Combining that with the power he stole from Gohan and the fact that he's hidden his lamp back in his own world, you are looking at a being with do weaknesses." Paradox said gravely, only making the Guardians' confidence plummet even further. If a guy who walks through time and sees how everything turns out was grim then they really were facing almost guaranteed doom. "I'm afraid that this is where two futures are converging. One that's good and one that's...better. I can't tell you how this will end."

"This is..." Gohan muttered angrily, frowning hard as the smoke dissipated enough to reveal Jafar's head. Red skinned, blank, pupil free yellow filling his eye sockets and a black pony tail at the back of his head. Hell, even his new goatee was bigger than Gohan's entire body.

"More power than I ever thought possible." Gwen finished for him, her shaking knees almost giving out on her as the last of the smoke disappeared, revealing the rest of him. he was so big that he wouldn't have fit in the room if the roof hadn't been blown off, he compared to Way Big. The floor would have shattered at the weight he'd possess if it wasn't for the fact that his red body had what looked like a tail instead of legs, therefore choosing flight over land travel. But it wasn't his size that scared Gwen the most. Her senses were overloading her head as they registered the raw mountain of wild magic coursing through his body, forcing her to pull as far from it as she could. "How did you beat this guy before?"

"Luck, mostly. With a bit of help from his overconfidence and greed." Sora answered. Needless to say that that wasn't the answer the others were hoping for.

"That's right kiddies. Tremble before my unstoppable power." Jafar snarled. "And DIE!" With that, he thrust out his hands and released two red beams each big enough to destroy a small house.

"Energy shield!" Gohan's response was instantaneous, shooting up into the air and creating his force field, this time out of golden lightning like energy instead of white, successfully blocking one beam.

Sora and Gwen were only a few seconds behind. Bringing both Keyblades in line horizontally before him, he willed them to spin as fast as he could and shot straight at the second while Gwen cast a turbo spell to create an energy tornado around him. the two rotating attacks proved quite effective as they clashed with the blast, drilling through the energy, albeit at a slower pace than either of them would have liked.

Breaking through just as Jafar started letting his blasts die, Sora smash his Keyblades into the giant's hand, instantly receiving a cry of pain that hurt everyone's ears in response.

"Masenko HA!"

"Merchcus Veridactus!" A gold and a yellow tinted, blue beam followed immediately after, both crashing into the genie's chin and throwing his head back painfully. However, he recovered from that faster than any of them expected and with a roar he released dozens of cobras from his mouth, all of them flying at the speed of a bullet right at the trio.

Not keen to watch their shields fail again at Jafar's whim, Gohan and Gwen resorted to flying upward instead, creating bursts of wind whenever a snake got too close. Sora on the other hand merely kept his blades spinning before him, deflecting ever one.

"Event Horizon!" He cried, unknowingly causing a his allies' hearts to ache at the sound of one Roxas' spells. However, unlike Roxas, who'd fire light balls from his hands, Sora had them coming at high speed from the points of his Keyblades and as they were still spinning like Ferris Wheels the blasts created a spiral. The first wave easily neutralised the next wave of snakes while the rest kept pushing through until they found the centre of Jafar's oversized chest. Screaming and jerking in agony, Jafar almost instantly stopped with the snakes and took off into the sky, as far away from Sora's blasts as he could get.

"Why isn't he just making your attacks dissipate and redirect or whatever?" Gwen called, her curiosity getting the better of her. "And why are they hurt him so much? Your attacks are doing a lot more damage than ours."

"He's too full of dark magic, he has no sway over light, it's his worst enemy." Sora answered, sending light up into the air to keep the genie off balance. "He can fight and block it, but he can't control it and it hurts him bad. Similar to the Heartless, but not at such an extreme level."

"At least we've got one thing going our way." Gohan muttered as he shot by. He left a blazing, gold trail in his wake as he aimed his Ki encased fist straight for Jafar's forehead.

But Jafar would have none of that. with a flash of red crossing his yellow eyes, red balls burst into existence around a shocked Saiyan's hands and feet, forcing his arms straight out to his side and holding him completely still in the air. scrunching up his face, his aura flaring wildly around him, he tried to force his limbs free only to fail miserably.

"Let's have some fun shall we?" Jafar smirked cruelly, getting his face in so close that Gohan was sure that he was about to eat him. Lingering for only a moment longer, he pulled back to reveal another red energy ball growing in his hand. "Let's see how much power it takes to blow you apart shall we?"

"Gohan!" Gwen cried, levitating upward as fast as she could with Sora on her heels. Creating her own ball of blue and yellow energy, she tossed it straight at Jafar's while Sora launched the Ultima Blade like a spear. The attacks struck home at the last second before Jafar could unleash his own attack, leaving the behemoth screaming again as the blade dug into his shoulder and the ball collided with his own, creating a very nice explosion.

The strength of his bonds slacking noticeably without Jafar's full attention, Gohan screamed, unleashing a wave of gold energy from his entire body and destroying the orbs before firing a gold beam.

Unfortunately, Jafar had already recovered again and put an instant halt to Gohan's attack before splitting it in three and directing it at each hero. Gohan and Gwen avoided the shots easily enough and Sora deflected his, but it gave Jafar more than enough free time to prepare himself.

"I believe it's time for a change in scenery." He cackled before throwing his arms out with a roar. The affect was instantaneous, one second everything was what had passed for normal since Maleficent entered the world and the very next everything had disappeared. The world around them turned in a rusty red void with hurricane winds blowing randomly in all different directions.

Everyone, even those who'd been defenceless and hidden within Dojo's coiled body, were screaming as they as they were tossed around like ragdolls, gasping as the wind struck like mallets from all different directions more often than not. Gohan and Gwen were the only ones able to hold themselves still for even short amounts of time, the latter's strength and energy filled aura helping him stabilise while the latter created a magical force field. In his weakened state, even Raimundo couldn't do all that much, though thanks to Namine healing some of his injuries he was still able to assist Dojo from his back, redirecting what wind he could in his condition to make it easier for the dragon to go around scooping up the helpless.

And all the while Jafar's form floated stationary right in the middle of the whole thing, laughing maliciously at the helpless heroes being whipped messily all around him.

"Do you realise just what you are up against yet?" He laughed, taking in each terrified or defiant hero's faces one at a time. "I am all-powerful! None of your feeble powers even compares to mine! You may have found a few tricks that can hurt me but you will never defeat me."

"What a load of crap!" Gwen snapped, tossing blast after blast from her hands. "If that were the case then you'd have had no reason to join your evil alliance, much less look for Kingdom Hearts."

"I've beaten you before Jafar." Sora agreed, unleashing black and white lightning bolts. "Lamp or no lamp, I will do it again."

Scowling, Jafar responded with a wave of his hand and was instantly shielded from both sets of attacks by a giant wall of stone debris. Upon a closer look Gwen was stunned to realise that it was from the fortress and judging from how it looked before their powers clashed with it, it had been untouched before now.

"You destroyed the fortress." She gasped as what remained of the wall broke away and scattered, revealing a very irritated genie head.

"That I did." He snarled, his face breaking out into a cruel smirk as a large slab of stone crashed into her gut a moment later, leaving her winded and very sore as she was tossed away. "So beware worms, there is much more than wind to deal with here.

"I'll keep that in mind." Gohan's cold voice whispered in his ear. Cursing himself for forgetting the Super Saiyan's presence, Jafar failed completely to catch the boy before a foot stomped right into his eye. Shrieking with a higher pitch than his booming voices should be capable of making as literally and metaphorically blinding pain coursed through his eye, he instinctively covered it with his hands, leaving him defenceless as Sora and shockingly Dojo, passing by on his way to pick up his sixth teenager, attacked, the dragon firing a flamethrower at his stomach and the boy bringing both blades together before slamming them into Jafar's neck.

"AARRGGHH! YOU INSIGNIFICANT INSECTS!" Jafar's scream was like thunder and was followed by the entire void filling with bolts of lightning. The wind chose that moment to grow even stronger too and brought the debris right into everyone's faces.

"Not big on originality are you?" Gohan grunted, surrounding himself in a rippling, gold ball and soaring straight through the assault, only halted by the wind blowing him off course.

"And your moves are not predictable?" He snapped back as a flash of red popped Gohan's ball like a balloon before replacing it with a sphere of magma sinking in on itself.

However, in an instant it glowed blue and solidified into rock before exploding into sharp pikes, courtesy of Gwen. They were nothing to Jafar of course, but the they blocked his view and split his attention, leaving Gohan free to pull his arms back and throw eight basketball sized blasts simultaneously, all of which crashed brutally into Jafar.

Seeing the others about to be fried, Sora ignored the genie completely. Raising his Keyblades high and straight above his head, he created a constant stream of black and white lightning. Dojo, who'd spent every breath screaming since the lightning began, and his passengers sighed in relief as every bolt of red lightning was drawn to Sora's, leaving them free as Namine grabbed Ryo and dragged him on the dragon's back, the last teen left stranded.

"Thanks for the lift." He said with a strained smile before visibly tensing. Thanks to his enhanced healing, he'd quickly found himself comfortable moving again, something that proved to be quite valuable as they flew into debris only for him to kick it away and right into Jafar's gut. "Yes, right on target! I only wish that I could do more." He growled, glaring hatefully at the genie as the stone hit his gut, winding the red monstrosity.

"You're not alone." Namine muttered darkly, her tears drying as she glared scornfully at the gasping genie. "If I had his lamp I'd wish him into hell. Literally."

"Just settle for keeping us safe for now, ok?" Dojo cried panickedly, bobbing and weaving around debris so fast that he almost lost his incapacitated passengers with each turn. Fortunately the ghosts chose that moment to grab him and hold them down before turning everyone intangible. "Ah, much better." Dojo sighed in relief as everything just flew harmlessly through him.

"Argh!" A rock the size of a small car came out of nowhere as Gwen fought the wind, knocking her hard onto another. Gritting her teeth as the pain of what felt like a cracked shoulder bone, Gwen raised her other hand up and focused on every piece of stone she could find.

"Sinnyu Invisibiss!" Every stone she'd found stopped its movement instantly, glowing blue and yellow until as one they all shot at Jafar.

Scowling, Jafar threw up a hand of his own and disintegrated every stone into dust before it could reach him only to fail to notice Gohan coming down with a battle cry and a brutal axe kick aimed right for his nose. Jafar threw his head back and bellowed as the end of his nose caved in on itself.

"Don't think I'm done." Gohan snarled as blue energy quickly gathered between his cupped hands. "KamehameHA!" Thrusting his hands forward he released his most powerful attack right into Jafar's open mouth. Though there was no scream this time, Gohan was still able to grow a dark and slightly bloodthirsty smirk as the genie's eyes almost burst from their sockets, his whole body shaking erratically as raw power ripped through him from the inside.

"Ok. Terrified, disturbed and more than a little worried for Gohan's sanity and our survival, but that stunt should buy me enough time." Gwen muttered to herself, frowning worriedly up at the Super Saiyan before pulling her body into a meditative position as her force field reappeared around her. What she was going to do would take up pretty much every drop of magic and concentration she had, but she knew that it had to be done. Even Gohan was being thrown off by the reality Jafar had created and Sora was wasting all of his power just attracting lightning. With Dojo and the others caught in the unrelenting winds and projectiles on top of everything else there was no way that she could let this fight continue here.

"Good thing I thought to grab Roxas' spell book." She muttered as said book floated before her, opening to a page almost halfway through it. Reading over the spell quickly, she shut her eyes dug deep into herself, bringing forth every bit of magic she had. As she did her entire body disappeared in the blue glow, becoming a mere silhouette within as the Keystone made its existence known and decorated her glow with yellow stripes. "Clear Light! Veneficus Dispellia!

With that it was like a bomb went off. Blue and yellow magic exploded from her suddenly outstretched form with more speed than any of Gwen's spells had every reached and consumed everything it came across as it moved to fill all of the void.

"What the HELL?" Ryo cried, covering his eyes as the light consumed him, Dojo and everyone else on the dragon.

"Is all that really coming from that Gwen girl?" Sora gaped, watching on in shock and wonder. His expression quickly changed to impressed as he too was consumed.

"What is she doing?" Gohan cried, snapping out of his rage as worry for Gwen and curiosity over what she had done fought for dominance. A second later, he too disappeared in the magic, along with a pained, infuriated and roaring Jafar.

When the light finally receded the wind and red view had disappeared, replaced by a very familiar black sky above and wasteland surrounded by rainforest below. The only difference to how it was before was that the fortress was gone, replaced by giant pieces of stone falling straight to the ground.

"WHOA! Gwen was able to reverse a GENIE'S magic. Now that's impressive." Sora gaped, a wide smile growing on his face as he looked around. However, it quickly disappeared as he turned to the sorceress in question to find her dropping out of the sky without the slightest bit of control. And Jafar's beyond furious form was already right on top of her.

"YOU DARE MAKE ME LOOK WEAK?" Even the approaching Heartless tremble at the thunder that was Jafar's roar as he raised his oversized hand and slammed it into Gwen.

"NO!" Gohan screamed fear and horror etched on his face as she surged towards the ground faster than even he could move. If she hit the ground at that speed she'd be dead in an instant. Hell, if she was pulled out of that decline too quickly she'd die. Her body wasn't designed to handle moving at that kind of speed or the possible results. Stopping too quickly would cause her brain to crash into her skull, more than enough to kill her and that was without what her blood flow would do. However, though he could only watch on helplessly, Dojo and his passengers were already in action.

"WIND!" Raimundo cried hoarsely, creating a soft, but decent air current, slowing Gwen down slowly. It proved to be happening too slowly and Gohan was still too far away to stop her from hitting the ground, but right before she could a light portal opened before her, courtesy of a now very tired Namine, that exited not far from the green dragon. From there, an eagle ghost was easily able to grab her in its talons before flying towards the ground and away from the genie aiming to fire at them all.

"Hey sand for brains, didn't anyone ever tell you that the medical station's off limits?" Sora called out. Growling under his breath, Jafar looked up to see a white energy buzzsaw with black lightning outlining it coming right at him with just enough time to stop it right in place, earning a cross between a gasp and a grunt from Sora from within. "How..."

"I can't stop light magic, but I can stop YOU!" Jafar snapped before pointing a single finger at him before redirecting it to the gold flash soaring towards him. Sora cried as he felt his body spinning again only to change direction.

Gasping at the sudden action, Gohan swerved to his left, narrowly missing the screaming buzzsaw before continuing on his way to the source of his reawakened rage and tossed the strongest right hook he could only for Jafar to disappear and reappear behind him, tossing a giant red energy ball that would have consumed him completely if Gohan hadn't spun around and back fisted it with an energy encased hand, deflecting it right into an impressive pile of Heartless on the ground. Needless to say that they were all destroyed in an instant, but many more took their place.

_Good thing there's no flyers among them._ Gohan allowed himself to feel relieved for a few seconds as he scanned the ranks of Heartless and found all of his friends still airborne. _As long as we avoid the ground and the tree line we're safe._ With that he went back on the attack, throwing blast after blast only to fly away as Jafar doubled their strength and sent them right back.

"Magical ball!" Sora growled, unleashing a much larger and stronger, blue outlined version of Namine's only long ranged spell right at Jafar's back between the shoulder blades. It struck right on target without incident and left Jafar screaming as he jerked forward before he spun around and lashed out with a torrent of molten rock. Hissing and wide eyed, Sora took off up and right as fast as he could only to scream fearfully as it turned to follow him, both the old lava and the direction of the new stuff coming from the genie's hands.

Fortunately for the Keybearer, Gohan was more than capable of handling it. Throwing himself right in the middle of it, he let loose a scream and unleashed his aura in an explosive wave and flung every drop of liquid rock to the ground, destroying even more of the Heartless.

"Thanks, I'd be a goner without you." Sora smiled appreciatively.

"Not a problem." Gohan nodded back before they charged in again, white and gold power gathering in their hands and blades.

"This is nuts." Ryo cried, tugging frantically at his messed up hair as he watched their remaining two titans lash out at the genie, his frown deepening as Jafar countered their attacks before forcing them to scatter and weave all around him as he created what looked like a web of liquid metal. "They're both far beyond any of us at this point, but even their combined power barely stops this guy for any longer than a few seconds. How can one being have that much power? Even the God wasn't this strong."

"Not here, no, though if you fought Hades in his own world you'd think very differently." Paradox commented, his intense gaze never leaving the battle as Gohan and Sora smashed a foot and Keyblade respectively into Jafar's chest only to be blown back by a raw wave of magic a moment later. "But genies are always beyond the power of most mortals, only being limited by being bound to their lamp. Unless someone rubs it in his world, he will not disappear and without destroying it, it is almost impossible to destroy him."

"So what can we do?" Riku groaned from his place beside Kairi. "You said that one future ends with our victory over him right? How do we make that happen."

"It would take every bit of power every breathing hero here has, excluding myself." Paradox answered. "Particularly the power of light accumulated within this alliance. It is the one thing that can really hurt Jafar on its own."

"But most of us are too hurt to fight anymore." Namine mumbled, fighting back more tears. "I could heal one person back into decent fighting form, but then I'd collapse and Kairi's the same."

"There is another...way." Rai grunted as another explosion covered the sky and tossed Dojo closer towards the tree line. Flashes of gold and white quickly followed through the smoke as claps of thunder reverberated throughout the area. Unperturbed, Raimundo forced his shaking hand into his pocket and pulled out a very old fashioned lantern. "Give this to Gohan, have...him point it at us and s-say Sun Chi Lantern."

"Very clever thinking." Paradox grinned as Ryo took the magical item gently before trying to find the Saiyan hybrid. "That particular Shen Gong Wu will transfer all the power of those in its light to the wielder. However, I would recommend one slight deviation to this plan."

"And what would that be?" Ryo asked as he bit his lip watching Gohan only move further away.

"The power of light is strongest against beings like Jafar when it is pure." Paradox replied casually, turning his attention to Namine and the remaining two Keybearers. "And together, the Keybearer and two of those with hearts of pure light can generate immense power when they come together. If you three give all of that to our incredible Final Form Sora, the resulting force would be nothing short of unbearable to Jafar, especially with the power of every remaining Guardian and ally gathered within Gohan coming in right beside it."

"Well, I'm not one to ignore advice from a time traveller." Kairi nodded. Helping Riku into a sitting position, she raised her hand and summoned her flowery Keyblade and pointed it to the sky, right at Sora, Namine and Riku placing their own hands over hers and channelling all the light magic they had into the blade along with her own.

"SORA!" Three yells echoed throughout the area as a beam of light exploded from the Keyblade, Namine and Kairi's enhancing abilities magnifying the trio joint strength. Dodging Jafar's fists, Sora barely had time to turn around and drop his jaw as the light hit him. He became even more amazed as the light didn't even try to hurt him, as he expected it would, but flowed into him. His entire body shined bright as he absorbed the power.

"NO! NOT AGAIN!" Jafar screeched, blinded and agonised by the light, much like he had been with Ventus. Gohan on the other hand was unsure what to make of it. Taking a few moments to catch his breath, the world's strongest hero wasn't sure whether to be worried about Sora or attack Jafar while he was in pain. Though he had to admit that he was enjoying the sight of Jafar in agony and there was no denying that his blood thirsty Saiyan instincts were screaming to take greater pleasure in causing him more pain and he would have followed it in if it weren't for the sudden jolt of his senses informing him that Dojo and the others were approaching.

"Gohan, take this!" Ryo shouted, tossing the brown lantern as hard as he could. It came in hard and fast, but Gohan caught it with ease, staring curiously at the item. He could tell that it was magical, that would be the only reason why they'd give such a thing to him now, but he didn't have a clue what it did. Fortunately, Ryo did.

"Point that at us and say Sun Chi Lantern." The hero of Tokyo exclaimed, pointing to Valerie, Dojo, Donald and the Guardians on board, not including Namine.

Though he was still not sure what to make of all this, Gohan trusted his friends with his life and nodded his head as he raised the item right towards them.

"Sun Chi Lantern!" Unlike other Shen Gong Wu he'd seen, this one didn't glow gold as it activated, merely lighting up like an ordinary lantern and bathing his friends in its glow. Gohan couldn't help the disappointed frown that appeared on his face at the result. The thought that this one was just a dud was quick to cross his mind.

However, all feelings of disappointment vanished in an instant but a few seconds later, as power like nothing Gohan had ever felt before crashed into his being. And it wasn't the kind he normally felt, it was the unique energy he felt from all of his friends. The cool, energy that swirled like wind of Raimundo, the natural energy of Kim and Valerie, the eerie sensation he got from sensing Danny's power, the fiery sensation of Dojo and Jake's dragon powers, the supercharged sensation of Ryo's energy and the warm, gentle touch of Ben and Donald's magic all flowing into him at once. It was so much that he could barely control it. Grunting and squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to adapt to the enormous bout of different powers he'd acquired, he didn't even notice that his aura had from solid gold to a rainbow of gold, pink, bluish purple, red, green, sky blue and white. However, he did manage to relax his body a few moments later, just in time to see Dojo and the others still able to sit up sag tiredly at the same time Namine, Riku and Kairi's own supply of power ended, leaving them sinking onto Dojo's scales too.

"This...this is beyond amazing." Gohan muttered, gobsmacked as he focused on all the power running through him. The Super Saiyan transformation had already made him five times as powerful as he was before, far more powerful than even his father had ever been, but with all this power on top of it... "I could destroy an entire city in minutes."

And it wasn't just a power boost he'd gotten either. He could feel it within him, he'd gained all the unique powers and abilities of those who gave him energy and each of those abilities could draw power from every other type of energy flowing through him. As modest as he was, Gohan was confident to say that he was almost invincible.

"And I'm not the only one to have grown impressive." Gohan smirked as he turned his attention back to the other remaining fighters. With Ben's magic coursing through him, his senses could pick up magic now too and he had to say that Sora was damn well powerful too. He doubted that even Gwen had held that much power even with the Keystone. "This fight is in the bag." He said, his smirk growing victorious as he turned his attention to the slowly recovering genie. Though before he could make a move, a cold chill escaped his mouth, something his brain registered as Danny's ghost sense.

"The sorceress said to take this." A little startled at the voice's close proximity, Gohan whipped around to find one of the giant rabbits holding up Gwen's bracelet, the Keystone gleaming on top. His smirk only continuing to grow, Gohan took it with a nod of appreciation and put it on as he turned to his partner.

"What do you say we finish this?"

"Sure thing. Lets light this creep up." Sora grinned darkly. Raising his arms out to his sides he finally grabbed hold of the Keyblades and focused all his power into them as he surged at Jafar for the last time. The blades were quick to respond and shined brightly before being consumed completely, the light extending to make light blades that were each more than twice the size of Sora himself.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!" A look of endless terror had covered Jafar's face at the sight and had him whipping his arms around like a madman. Earth, lava and even countless Heartless exploded up from the ground light a tidal wave between the two dimensional travellers, an abundance of ice and lightning joining it from above, but Sora just slashed both blades across his body and cut a huge gap clean through it all.

Screaming again at the sight, Jafar threw a red energy ball followed by his free fist, but the latter was instantly deflected right back into the other, the genie's hand being crippled by his own power and leaving him completely exposed to Sora's onslaught. Taking full advantage of the situation, Sora let loose the loudest battle cry he could and slashed his light blades with all his strength.

The resulting bloodcurdling scream was so loud and horrendous that it alone almost knocked out everyone in the vicinity as the light blades cut deep into his body and lodged themselves there, creating a deep, white cross over his torso.

"Gohan, together." Sora yelled, flying back as fast as he could.

"You got it." Gohan responded, raising his arms by his sides. His right hand glowed with the Sky blue, pink and white energy and fire of his magical allies while his left shined with green, gold and purplish blue power, that of the non-magical. Falling into place beside him, Sora raised both Keyblades and brought them together as white light outlined by purple, yellow, black and a pale green charged at their tips.

"Time to die JAFAR!" Gohan screamed as the Keystone lit up and increased the power gathering in his hands tenfold, drawing the attention of the giant genie. Looking up with more pain and fear than any of the watching heroes had ever seen before, Jafar went slack jawed and openly gaped. As the power gathered at the two boys hands, he could feel not only them, but all of those he'd fought within them. He grew even more terrified as his eyes seemed to play tricks on him, for he was sure that he was seeing a transparent Riku, Kairi, Namine and Ventus surrounding Sora while Valerie, Dojo, Donald and the other Guardians were gathered around Gohan.

_They fight for each other. Their friends are their power._ His horrified mind realised, Sora's voice echoing that very line in his head , a line that he'd stated many times before. He'd never understood what he'd meant until now. And he never could of imagined the power such a seemingly meaningless thing like friendship could have.

"Farwell Jafar, AND THIS TIME DON'T COME BACK!" Sora roared as his gathering power hit its peak. "LIGHT!"

"Go to hell!" Gohan snarled, snapping both his hands forward and mixing the power around each hand together. "OBLITERATE!"

Each boy released an enormous beam, the two uniting halfway to their target. The end result was a blast that could consume a five story building. And as wounded and writing as he was there was nothing Jafar could do to stop it.

His screams rumbled like a volcano, commanding the attention of all as the beam struck right into the centre of the cross and burst, spreading the destructive power right through his body and destroying him from the inside out. The look of excruciating pain on Jafar's face as his screams continued to grow louder became so great that even Namine couldn't help feeling a little sympathetic for him as streams of light burst out of every part of his body, his body bulging and rippling so much that he looked like the exploding volcano that his screams were emulating until finally, with one last rise in his scream's volume, he exploded, fire and raw energy destroying everything around him and make a clear path for the heroes.

"AAAHHHHHH, WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Dojo shrieked, zipping around flying as fast as he could from the rapidly approaching flames.

"Oh do calm down." Paradox called cheerfully, getting looks that screamed 'what the hell are you smoking' from everyone around him. "Namine will be more than capable of saving you all in three, two, one..."

"Namine, grab my hand." Sora cried as Gohan dragged him to the group in one hand, Gwen and the ghost that had been carrying her attached to the other. Not asking questions, Namine did as he said and was immediately rewarded with a wave of light magic running through her entire being. Quick to pick up on a hint, she thrust her hand up before them and created a large portal right in front of Dojo. The green dragon had flown through it before he'd even noticed what was going on and Namine was ready to close the entrance the instant his tail made it through, just saving them from a fiery death.

...

A moment later, the white light disappeared and the heroes found themselves look at something that actually managed to bring a few small smiles to their face: a bright, blue sky.

"Wow! Where are we?" Ryo asked, awe and wonder making it past his exhaustion. Below them was what looked like an upside down dome floating in the sky. A giant, white and gold building stood tall and beautiful over half of it while a few rows of plants was all that covered the rest. It was in perfect condition. Hell, the floor looked clean enough to eat off of. Considering that their world was torn to shreds by the Heartless, this was far too good to be true. "Did you send us to one of those other dimensions or something?"

"No, this is the Earth's Lookout, the home of the Guardian of the Earth." Gohan answered for the blond, his hair and eyes returning to black as his blood thirsty gaze softened into a warm smile. "The last Guardian unfortunately is gone, but the place is still taken care of by Mr Popo, an immortal guy who assists the Guardians, for the day that a new one shall take his or her place as Kami's successor. Since Kami's gone, this place has mostly been used as the secret base of the Z Fighters, for no one can sense you up here by any means and the only way to find this place is to see it with your own eyes. But at the same time, from here you can sense and see anything anywhere in the world."

"So not even the Heartless can find us here?" Sora smiled. "Sounds like paradise."

"But this place is deserted." Kairi frowned as Dojo landed, helping the still wounded down gently as she looked around. "Shouldn't the Z Fighters have brought their families here or come here to retreat or something?" She asked hesitantly, regretting it instantly as a heartbroken look crossed Gohan's face.

"We are too scattered. And everything happened too quickly." Was his only response as his tear filled eyes swept the place. "Even Popo isn't here. He must have gone to try and help."

"Yes, and he too fell to the Heartless." Paradox nodded gravely. "I'm afraid that even young Phantom's family and friends have all fallen now and many of the ghost army are being forced to retreat. We are the last living things on this entire planet other than the Heartless. Which I might add, have already started moving on to the other planets of this dimension."

"So it's exactly how we expected it to be." Ben muttered miserably from his place beside a sleeping Gwen. "We win the battle, but lose our world and everyone we love forever."

That did it. All the held back emotions broke through every wall put around them each of those conscious of the nine remaining Guardians completely broke down. Tears poured down their faces as their bodies were wracked with sobs. Namine's were easily the loudest, having watched the person closest to her fall and threw herself into Gohan's arms. The boy wasn't in any condition to do much comforting, falling apart himself, but still wrapped his arms around her and rubbed his face into her hair as she cried into his chest, trying as hard as he could anyway.

Still incapable of sitting up on their own, Rai and Jake rested their backs against one of the marble plant containers, leaning into each others' shoulders with Dojo, back in his small form, wrapping himself around Rai's neck while Ryo sat with the unconscious girls, silent tears pouring freely down his face. Not knowing what they could possibly say or do in this situation, Sora, Kairi and Riku just moved aside with Donald and the still glowing bodies of Mickey and Goofy, leaning on each other as they dealt with their own sadness while the ghosts flew away to find their allies. Only Wulf and the puppy stuck around, both of them curling up sadly around Danny's unconscious form.

"There is one way to save this world." Paradox said firmly, his voice holding none of his usually chipper attitude. However, none of the teenagers had even noticed its absence. Shock and hope flooded their beings as they each whipped their heads to the time walker. Even looking at him their desperation completely clouded their vision, making it impossible for them to see his serious expression.

"Really? What is it? Tell us." Ben demanded, bolting off the ground and moving in close, alongside all of the others that were still able to walk.

"What could possibly undo this much damage and remove this many Heartless?" Riku cried, frowning sceptically. "It's impossible."

"For one ordinary hero, yes." Paradox nodded as he dug his hand into his lab coat pocket and pulled out a mini projector. "But fortunately, there are many of those as well as people who are unique, such as this lovely lady." He continued, his voice turning chipper again as he flicked a switch. The projector flashed on a second later and on a wall opposite Paradox, an image appeared of a very well furnished room. And in the middle of was an intimidating woman with black hair, pale skin and red eyes. "Everyone, meet Yuuko. Also known as the Dimensional Witch."

"Greetings young heroes." The woman said calmly, staring each one of the standing teens in the eye before glancing past them to their downed friends. "I see your battle has had a great toll on you. You have my sympathy, but I am also impressed. Not many could defeat such powerful alliances like that of Maleficent's."

"Thank you for the compliment." Gohan nodded politely, though his impatience was shining through. "But may we please move on to the point? Paradox says that you have the power to save our world. Is it true?"

"In a manner of speaking." Yuuko nodded, her voice as calm and formal as before. "I cannot do it myself, but rather I can awaken and unite the powers hidden within your group so that you may proceed."

"Wait, we have the power to fix this?" Jake groaned from his spot on the ground. "How is that possible?"

"Through Sora and Ventus." Yuuko answered, her eyes hitting Sora's shocked ones piercingly. "Your wish is to save your world correct? My magic can restore the world to how it was before the Heartless appeared on its own, but to deal with them will require the unique gifts of Sora and Ventus to be united."

"Sora has the ability to connect his heart to those of everyone he befriends and only gains more connections, whereas anyone else would only have one or two at a time and take basically a soul mate kind of relationship to form." Paradox explained to the mass of confused faces. "Meanwhile, Ventus has the power to control all light within his reach, as you saw when he took over for Roxas in the battle. If Ventus' heart is awakened within Sora's the two could use the chains connecting Sora's heart to everyone he's ever befriended and summon all of their light to him no matter where they are."

"With the nature of Ventus' control, it can then be used to not only destroy every Heartless, but send their hearts back to their owners, again wherever their owners may be." Yuuko continued.

"This is perfect! Let's do it." Gohan cried excitedly, a bright smile growing on his face. "Everyone will come back right?"

"Everyone except Roxas." Paradox answered grimly, effectively dampening their moods. "I'm afraid that Ventus' heart and soul must stay where it is and Sora's body cannot be split easily or without repercussions. Besides, if we separated Sora and Ventus, we could not save your world. I'm sorry, but he must stay where he is."

"Still, we get everyone else back right?" Rai asked dully. He should have still been in quite a bit of pain, but it had disappeared from his voice completely. It seemed almost dead, matching the look in his eyes that Paradox' response had created. "Let's do it."

"I'm afraid that there is one more thing that must be made clear before we begin. The price of my magic." Yuuko stated, watching calmly as the teens looked up with looks of disbelief and the beginnings of outrage. "My magic works on a dimensional level and I am bound to a price. Everything has a price, as it is needed to maintain the balance. I'm afraid that unless a price is paid, my powers don't work. I am sorry."

"It's not intentional." Paradox added, seeing Ben and Jake in particular still glaring. "What she said was very literal. Even if she wants them too, her powers won't activate unless a price equal to what she wishes to do is paid."

"What could we possibly pay that's equal to an entire world?" Ryo cried, gritting his teeth in frustration. "There's nothing that valuable."

"In monetary terms, that is true." Yuuko nodded. "However, the value of what is donated to me is based off of sentimental value, treasured possessions. In this case, my price is your dimension's memories of the Valour Guardians and all connected to the team."

"What?" Namine gasped, quickly growing scared and confused as to what she could mean by that.

"It is the world's price to pay, not yours." Yuuko stated, taking a moment to let that sink in before explaining. "Your world will forget all about Organisation 13 coming to your world and the formation of the Valour Guardians. Though history will not be changed, no one will remember your alliance, not even you. All evidence of your existence will be hidden away and looked over and any of you who were not known to the world beforehand will return to working in the shadows again."

"But if that happens..." Jake started; flinching dramatically as he unconsciously tried, and fail, to stand. "Then all the magical creatures will be forgotten by the humans too. And they were discovered under very special conditions last time, there's no way the non-magical world will accept them so easily again."

"It's the same with the Plumbers and other aliens that come to Earth." Ben muttered, bitting his lip as he glared at the ground.

"And that is the true price the world has to pay." Yuuko explained. Though her voice remained same as always, Gohan and Kairi had noticed that her face had softened sympathetically. "Removing the memories of the Valour Guardians is but the method. The true price is the development between the three different societies the Organisation and your unity created. It is what your world values most."

"So what will happen to us?" Gohan asked defeatedly. They had to accept this. A world divided was better than no world at all and this was the only way to save it and everyone they loved. They had no choice.

"All of you native to this world will return to your lives as they would have been had you never formed your alliance. The six who followed Maleficent here will retain their memories as they have not lived here, but will be transported back to Disney Castle."

"What about Namine?" Kairi asked, tensing when her Nobody's fate was skipped. At that moment Yuuko's face turned a little remorseful.

"She too will return to what her life would have been like if she'd never been caught by the Organisation. She will be transported to another world, which I do not know, with no memory of this world."

"WHAT?" Kairi, Sora and Ben cried simultaneously as the girl in question gasped sadly into Gohan's chest. The Saiyan just tightened his hold on her and rubbed his cheek against hers, trying to comfort her as much as he could and hiding the distraught looked covering his own face from her. Ryo just glared at the ground before walking over and placing a sympathetic hand on Gohan's shoulder.

"There has to be some other alternative for Namine." Ben cried desperately, whipping his head back and forth from the blonde to the projection. "Send her with Kairi. Or to someone else she knows. We can't just leave her wandering all of existence alone!"

"I'm afraid that I have no more control over her fate than you do." Yuuko replied, closing her eyes. "I only inform you of the price to grant a wish, not decide what it is, like I said before."

"T-then that's it then." Namine stuttered, drawing everyone's teary eyes as she took a deep breath and force herself out of Gohan's arms. Wiping furiously at her eyes, Namine gave each and every one of her friends a warm, loving look before looking determinedly right into Yuuko's eyes. "There's no point dragging this out, we all know that we have no choice. We accept the exchange."

"Very well." Yuuko stated. While her tone remained that of a serious business woman, her face did melt, if only for a moment, into one of great sympathy. However, it disappeared as soon as it appeared. "The price will be paid when everything is completed. Now, let us begin."

Less than a second later a loud gasp from Sora drew everyone's attention, leaving them staring in amazement and curiosity as his heart started to glow. He himself was staring with wide eyed fascination until his eyes went blank, followed quickly by his face. Dispelling Oathkeeper, he grabbed hold of the Ultima Blade and held it out straight before him as he floated straight up into the air.

"Is he o...look at that!" Kairi cried, not sure whether to be worried or astounded as a transparent Ventus appeared behind Sora and wrapping his arms around the brunette to place his own hands around the Keyblade, his eyes just as blank.

"Roxas...Ventus." Namine muttered, a sad grin growing on her face as she stared at him.

They didn't have much time to worry about him though, for an instant later the Ultima Blade began to glow. And a series of gasps left the conscious teens' mouth a moment later as a light shined from each of their chests and their unconscious allies' at varying degrees of strength, Namine and Kairi's being the strongest, before each light shot up to in a beam to the tip of the blade. The lights united with that of Sora and Ventus' and swirled around the tip, creating a beautiful beacon. It was already huge and they'd just started.

"And that's just the beginning." Paradox grinned, finding great joy in both the gathering of light and the looks of awe cover the faces of the young heroes. His words held true, for an instant later it looked like they had an entire meteor shower coming right at them. Ball headed beams of light shot down from the sky at Sora in all directions, far too many to count and of all different sizes. It wasn't long before the gathering, compacted light was bigger than the Lookout. "Sora has met a great deal of people with strong lights in their hearts, including all of the Princesses of Heart. And just their...eight hearts combined with Ventus' already holds extraordinary power. By the time it's all gathered, that light up there will be as powerful as a Celestialsapien, or Alien X as you call him." He added cheerfully to a blown away Ben.

It took a good ten minutes for all the light streams to reach them and finish disappear into the ball, an impressive achievement considering that they were coming from untold distances and dimensions, and Sora's blank face had turned very serene as the light had gathered. With each beam he felt the presence of another friend, something that filled both Sora and Ventus with warmth and joy. He could feel everyone from the restoration committee of Radiant Gardens to the far reaches of Pride Rock. Though the most surprising was one that Sora didn't even know he'd made a connection to. Her warm, loving presence stirred a great longing and happiness from Ventus. It had been far too long since the blond Keybearer once again hidden within Sora had felt the presence of Aqua.

_Aqua. Please come back soon._ Despite his deep trance, Sora was almost knocked right out of concentration as Ventus' thoughts appeared in his head, accompanied by a desperate need to see the young woman again. As her light, the last of them all, fully united with the gathered ball, the small part of Sora's conscious mind still functioning swore to find a way to reunite them once again.

However, at that moment his subconscious mind was in charge of his body and as the last of the light joined the gathering he raised his blade over his head.

"Release and Dispel!" Those watching below gasped as the dual voice of Sora and Ventus echoed throughout the area and the gathered light exploded outward in all directions. It was so intense that all any of them could see was white.

...

Much like the darkness before it, the light quickly grew and surrounded the Earth, only unlike the darkness, the light was near instant. Within minutes the wave of light had swept over all of Asia and moved on, crossing the seas and lighting up North and South America, Europe, Australia and Africa. The Heartless had no chance to flee, by the time they notice it, it had already flooded them. They never even had time to scream as they were destroyed, the freed hearts glowing and contributing their own light to the wave before flying away and back to their bodies. Before long the final reaches of the Earth, the polar icecaps, were consumed, destroying all that remained of the evil army.

"Wha-what happened?" A disorientated voice asked, drawing the attention of the astounded ghosts guarding the North Pole. They all gazed and smiled with amazement and joy as Jazz sat up, rubbing her head groggily.

"The battle is over my dear. Your brother and his friends have succeeded in restoring our world." Clockwork answered kindly, helping her to her feet. Grinning, he motioned for her to look behind her just in time to see pink flashes drop into the bodies of her family and friends before they too started grunting groggily. Smiling brightly, Jazz cheered for joy and dived right at them, hugging her parents tightly. She couldn't think of a moment that she'd ever felt happier than right now.

"Way to go little brother. You did it. You all did it."

...

"How is he? Pease tell me he's ok." Chichi cried, staring up at Piccolo with wide, teary eyes as she held her youngest child close to her chest. The second she'd woken up her mind had instantly gone back to her kids, both of which her last memories of had involved being taken down by a dark beast. Goten was safely in her arms already, something that she was openly grateful for, but she still didn't have the slightest clue about Gohan and it was tearing her apart. And of course, that meant that her wailing was tearing Piccolo's head apart.

"Don't worry, he's alright." Piccolo said calmly, ignoring the urge to rub his head. Unlike the rest of the world, he could sense people at the Lookout, what with the last Guardian being inside of him and all. He knew that there was no need to worry, just like he knew that the very place his youngest and most cherished friend currently resided was also the epicentre of the light still blanketing the Earth. That simple fact was all the information Piccolo needed and a proud smile decorated his face. "Heh, you never cease to amaze me kid. You're definitely everything your father was and so much more."

...

"Everyone's coming back." Bulma smiled in amazement, Wade laughing by her side.

"I don't believe it! They go to beat Maleficent and they restore the entire world's populace on the side. Hahahaha, only they could do THAT!" He cheered, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

...

From the Lookout, the Guardians could see it all. They watched on with huge, relieved, excited and tired smiles as each of their friends and family woke up, smiles that grew bigger as they watched those very people laugh and cheer along with the rest of the world. It was nothing but joy that filled the Earth, for despite the entire planet being invaded not one person had died; only turned into a Heartless and as such were now returning to normal. It even held true on the Lookout, for a few moments later two pink streaks zipped up right over the platform and into the chests of Mickey and Goofy.

"Aw, gosh, that wasn't exactly my most pleasant moment." Mickey groaned, causing everyone's heads to snap towards him as he slowly sat up. Squinting in the light, he was about to say something else, but before he could a deep laugh and a pair of very firm hands that had to be Riku's were on his shoulders.

"King Mickey! Thank God you're alright." He said cheerfully, surprising the royal mouse. Looking up at the silver haired Keybearer, he couldn't remember a time when he'd smiled nearly that brightly. Mickey was too stunned to do anything more than smile back. A smile that only grew when he turned to find a dazed and 'shockingly' confused Goofy talking about what he referred to as the craziest dream to a giggling Kairi.

"Hey, I don't feel any pain." Jake cried startling everyone else. Looking down at his body, he found that all of his injuries had disappeared. He patted himself down under his clothes to make sure nothing was hidden underneath them and still felt no pain. Looking up, he found the others were just as surprised as he was, but not at his fully healed, but their own. They'd been so astounded and happy watching everyone being restored that they hadn't noticed their own pain disappearing. "We're all fine. How did that happen?"

"That is my magic mixing in with the light blanketing your world." Yuuko answered, startling Mickey and everyone else who was just waking up. Needless to say that they were all a little confused as to what was going on, but none of them felt like demanding too much of an explanation just yet. "You're world is returning to what it looked like before the invasion began and is almost complete. That means that the payment is about to occur."

"Payment?" Kim asked groggily, quickly growing worried as her friends' faces grew depressed. "What payment? And where's Roxas?"

"Roxas has returned inside Sora." Ben grunted painfully, his sad face turning to one of anguish. "And the payment of Yuuko there's magic, which is what allowed us to save our world from the Heartless is to basically make it so as far as our world's concerned, and us, the Valour Guardians never existed. No one will remember a thing. And we live our lives as we would have if we never met."

"WHAT!" Danny shouted, his voice mixed with disbelief and outrage. "Why would you accept a payment like that? And why would you ask for such a thing?" He added, glaring hatefully at Yuuko.

"There was no choice for any of us." Ryo sighed, shaking his head. "Just leave it at that. You won't remember the details in a few minutes anyway."

"You are correct. Time is almost up." Paradox nodded, offering a sad smile. "If you are going to say goodbyes, I'd recommend that you do it now."

"No." Namine said firmly before anyone else could respond, bringing gasps from the girls and Danny and confused looks from the rest. Ignoring it all, she stepped right up to Gohan and, ignoring the blush growing on her face, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly on the lips.

Gohan was NOT expecting that, something that was clear to the other heroes, each growing a small smile at the sight. His body had tensed and his eyes gone wide, however, it past after a few seconds and he kissed back with all the passion he had. What he'd wanted to do for months had finally happened and even if he was going to forget it, he revelled in it. Namine smiled into the kiss as he finally responded and doubled her own efforts, determined to show him what she'd never had the confidence to say before and fell into pure bliss. It was even better than either of them ever expected it to be. And neither would pull away until the need to breathe finally returned.

Ending what she started, Namine stepped back and looked the Saiyan hybrid right in the eyes and surprised him when found that the sadness that had dominated her ocean blue orbs before had receded and was replaced by determination...and more love and affection than he'd ever seen pointed at him in his entire life.

"I love you." She said firmly for all to hear, bringing a huge smile to Gohan's face. Even if this moment would be his last with her, he was beyond happy that she told him. That she felt the same way. Wasting just one more moment on him, she turned her attention to the rest of the group, focusing on the Guardians. "I love you all. And I promise that we will meet again. Though the mind forgets, the heart always remembers. Our hearts will leads us back together one day. I know it."

Her eyes shined with conviction and her voice made no room for arguments. It was clear to all that she truly believed what she said with all of her being. And thanks to that, despite the doubts that had run through their minds, and how unlikely that it would happen, they all couldn't help but believe her words. One by one, the Guardians nodded their heads and offered true grins and smiles to each other and wrapped their arms around the Guardian nearest to them. They would meet again. No matter what happened until then, this moment, all of them together, embracing each other as allies, friends, even as a family would happen again. It was a promise all of them were determined to keep.

Unnoticed by the projector, away from even the King Mickey and the others, Paradox watched the team with a knowing smile and nodded approvingly.

"See you all soon guys." Gwen said firmly, giving each of them a warm smile, which each of them returned with a nod. With that, the white light that blanketed the world shined brighter than ever until nothing could be seen but endless white.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> Only the epilogue's left and this story will finally be completed. that should be up tomorrow.


	16. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Just as Yuuko had told them, the world had forgotten about the Valour Guardians completely. Even battles that were legendary amongst the masses, like the battle against the Freight Knight were never spoken of again. And each of the eight native Guardians continued to live their lives as though they'd never met.

Kim Possible, Danny Phantom and Justiman were the only names to ever be uttered by the populace's lips, the other heroes long forgotten by most of the world. The only difference to any of their lives from what they had been before that fateful day the Organisation arrived was that Danny was frequently asked about what happened to his never seen ghost form, to which Danny could only say that some villain he couldn't quite remember messed with his powers.

The magical community slipped back into the shadows, not that anyone remembered it any other way, hidden from the non-magical world. And like before, Jake trained and protected it, keeping it secret and protecting the good creatures from the evil. While still managing to drive his failure of a dragon hunting teacher insane.

Likewise, Ben and Gwen continued to work behind the scenes, aliens once again being nothing more than myths and speculations to the bulk of society. Though it was now mostly Kevin and Gwen doing all the work while Ben struggled to learn about the magic a voice he couldn't quite place had informed him that he had.

A downside for Raimundo, not that he knew it, was that Omi had returned to his complete, arrogant self, driving the others crazy as there was nothing to suggest any of the others were as great or better than him. However, Rai didn't let it bother him like it used to, much to the surprise of Dojo, Kimiko and Clay. Instead, he just doubled his efforts in training. He just felt like there was something he had to improve on. He wasn't sure why he felt like that, but whatever caused it had driven him to a whole new level of focus.

Namine had found herself in Radiant Garden. She didn't have a clue how she'd gotten there, but that was hardly what was on her mind. All she knew was that she really cared about was finding the people she so desperately wanted to be with and travelled from one world to the next in search for them. She really hoped that she'd find Sora and Kairi soon. However, she couldn't shake the feeling that there were others of great importance to her. A deep-seated longing for other people had lodged itself into her heart, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out who or why. If she tried really hard, flickers of two boys crossed her mind, one with spiky blond hair and one with messy black hair and a monkey tail, but she couldn't hold the images for longer than a second before they slipped away again. So, she just continued on, hoping that the mystery would reveal itself as she went.

Gohan was the one former Guardian that actually didn't do all that much in terms of battle and adventure anymore. With no known villains threatening all humanity and his father gone, nothing could convince Chichi that Gohan should continue training. And the boy rarely felt the need anyway. He spent most of his time studying like before and fishing at the lake. He was a gentle soul after all. With no apocalypse on the horizon, he was quite happy to just relax and stop his mother from having a fit.

And with the help of Merlin, Mickey watched it all. He couldn't interfere, he knew that, but he had wanted to make sure that they were all ok. Even if they didn't remember him anymore than they did each other he still considered them his friends.

"It's just a shame that they had to lose each other to save everyone else." Mickey sighed as Merlin let the show die, getting nods of agreement from Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku and Kairi.

"I've never seen a price as high as the one they had to pay." Sora muttered, clenching his fists at his sides irritably. "First they lost Roxas and then each other. Not to mention everything they worked for together."

"Even if Namine was right and they got back together one day, I doubt they'll ever get their world as unionised as it was ever again." Kairi agreed sadly.

"At least they still have a world to make better." Riku said softly, earning quiet nods. "And together or apart, you know that they will ultimately make it a wonderful place to be."

...

"That they will." Paradox muttered to himself happily as he closed his stopwatch. If Yuuko was startled by his sudden appearance in her shop or confused by what he'd said, she didn't show it. She merely continued staring into a mirror displaying not her image, but a boy floating in a stasis tube with brown hair and a large, black eye patch covering his right eye.

"What brings you here again time walker?" She asked, a hint of curiosity in her voice as she turned around. "Did you have another wish of your world for me to grant?"

"Oh no my friend, I merely came to thank you." Paradox replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Particularly for taking it as the world's wish instead of the Guardians'."

"Yes, that interested me. Why exactly did you ask that of me?" Yuuko raised an eyebrow. "The price could have only affected the Guardians, not their entire world if I was just granting a wish from them specifically."

"True, but their most treasured possessions are memories, feelings and each other and if you had granted a wish specifically from them then they'd never get their memories back." Paradox grinned, it growing into a full smile when he noticed that he'd actually surprised Yuuko.

"What do you mean get their memories back? My magic wouldn't allow it." She asked confusedly.

"No, no, your magic won't allow the world to remember their old unity or how it occurred. While the Guardians were a major part of the source and the ones responsible for smoothing it over, they did not create it. Though the world won't remember their past, the Guardians eventually will and become even greater than they were before. I have seen it."

"But they are down one either way are they not? How will they be greater than before?" Yuuko wondered before a knowing look crossed her face. "I see."

"Yep. All I have to do is light a spark here and there. Which has already begun."

...

That spark was the one piece of proof that the Guardians had existed that wasn't stored away and ignored by the world each of the eight native Guardians found a rectangular device on their desks, dressers or sleeping mat. Not having a clue what they were or how that got there, each of them had picked it up to find a note underneath. Reading the note hardly helped understand anything and none of them could turn the device on, but none of them could deny a feeling of familiarity and importance as they held them and chose to keep them nearby. They were connected to something special, each of them was sure of it. And without knowing why, the devices set off a deep feeling of hope and longing within them for something or someone and they knew were connected to the rectangular piece of metal. All they had to do was wait for the day that the note spoke of and everything would become clear once again.

_When time is right_

_And need is dire_

_Restore the flame_

_Revive valour's fire_

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> And there you have it. all done. FINALLY! this story was originally only supposed to be half the size, but it just wouldn't stop growing as it progressed.

Thanks again to everyone who's put it on favorite or alert and to everyone who sent me reviews or PMs. it is very much appreciated and they were great motivators.

If there are still any doubts, rest assured that I will still be continuing this series, but I'm not sure when the next story will come up. this is because of two reasons. one, i spent so much time working on this story that some of my other ones were ignored for too long and I want to progress them. two, thanks to the changes i made while writing this story and a few choice suggestions from reviews and PMs, I need to alter the plot to work everything I want to happen into it without it becoming as long as this story. this includes a couple new characters and developing abilities that weren't going to be there in the original plans. so I'm sorry if i make you wait a little while, but i will get a new vg story up sooner or later.

look out for it at my page or under the crossover category of American Dragon and Kingdom Hearts.


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